Music copyright in the UAE: Managing dispute risks under the new licensing framework
Key takeaways
· The Ministry of Economy and Tourism has issued its Guide to the Collective Management of Music Rights (Version 1.1), announced on 11 August 2026 under Ministerial Resolution No. 136 of 2026 and effective 1 December 2026.
· Businesses using music commercially should have a licence in place from a Ministry-approved collective management organisation before that date, not from it.
· The Guide does not create the underlying right. Musical works have been protected since Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2021 came into force in January 2022, so exposure for past use is not cured by licensing now.
· The likeliest disputes will not involve businesses that ignored the framework. They will involve businesses holding a licence that does not match how music is actually used across their premises.
· A business that receives an adverse Ministry decision must file a grievance with the Ministry’s Grievance Committee before going to court. Article 37(4) makes a court action inadmissible without it.
What the Guide covers
The Guide applies to licensed collective management organisations, to rights holders wishing to have their rights administered, and to businesses that use protected musical works and recordings and therefore require a licence. Two organisations currently hold Ministry permits: the Emirates Arts and Music Rights Association, permitted in April 2025, and Music Nation, permitted in June 2025. Licences issued to establishments run for one year and are renewable.
Fees are not uniform. The Ministry has confirmed that fee brackets vary according to the nature of the music use and the scale of the economic activity, and that the Guide contains an annual tariff matrix which will be reviewed periodically. The basis of assessment differs from sector to sector, and live performance or DJ use generally attracts a higher band than background music alone.
The practical consequence, and the one most likely to generate disputes, is that a single property can span more than one category. A hotel is not assessed as a single undertaking. Guest rooms, restaurants, halls, retail units and entertainment facilities may fall to be assessed separately, so one building can require more than one licence and more than one tariff analysis. The same is true of a group operating several outlets under one corporate structure.
Businesses should obtain the applicable tariff directly from a licensed organisation rather than relying on figures circulating in press coverage. The Ministry did not publish individual fee amounts with its announcement, and the Guide has already been revised once.
Exemptions apply to educational and academic institutions, government entities, uses connected with national occasions, and celebrations and personal occasions of a non-commercial nature. The Ministry may exempt further categories by decision. A business should not assume it is exempt simply because music is incidental to its main activity.
One point of genuine uncertainty is worth flagging. The position of concerts and comparable live events within the tariff structure is not clearly resolved on the face of the Guide. Promoters and event organisers should establish the basis of assessment with the licensing organisation rather than infer it.
Where the disputes are likely to come from
Licences that do not match the use. A hotel pays for a hotel licence and assumes the property is covered. Music also plays in its restaurants, its lounge, its gym, its spa and a ballroom hired out to third parties. The dispute that follows is not about whether the business paid. It is about whether what it paid for matches what it did. Article 9(1) of the Copyright Law requires a licence of economic rights to be in writing and to specify the right, the purpose, and the duration and place of use. Article 9(2) provides that rights not expressly assigned remain with the author. Both provisions work against expansive readings of a licence.
“Most of the businesses that get a letter will not be the ones that ignored this. They will be the ones who paid, filed the licence, and assumed it covered everywhere music plays on site. A hotel tariff is calculated on rooms. The restaurants, gym and ballroom in the same building may sit in different categories entirely. That is worth testing before December, not after a claim lands.”
– Essa Ziad Galadari
Consumer streaming subscriptions. Venue hire agreements commonly warrant that the venue holds all necessary licences. Venues frequently mean trade and entertainment permits rather than music rights. Where an incident engages both an infringement claim and a contractual recourse claim, the infringement claim will ordinarily proceed before the local courts while the contractual claim may be routed elsewhere by a jurisdiction or arbitration clause, producing parallel proceedings.
Competing claims over the same use. A business licensed by one organisation may receive a demand from the other, on the basis that the repertoire in question sits outside the first licence. Repertoire coverage is then the central factual question. Article 33 prohibits an authorised organisation from discriminating between applicants, and under the Executive Regulations in Cabinet Resolution No. 47 of 2022 such an organisation may not adjust matters relating to financial rights without Ministry approval, may deduct no more than 25 per cent of amounts collected, and must operate an internal mechanism for resolving complaints through independent experienced persons.
Competing claims over the same use. A business licensed by one organisation may receive a demand from the other, on the basis that the repertoire in question sits outside the first licence. Repertoire coverage is then the central factual question. Article 33 prohibits an authorised organisation from discriminating between applicants, and under the Executive Regulations in Cabinet Resolution No. 47 of 2022 such an organisation may not adjust matters relating to financial
rights without Ministry approval, may deduct no more than 25 per cent of amounts collected, and must operate an internal mechanism for resolving complaints through independent experienced persons.
From complaint to court
The Ministry operates a copyright infringement complaint service. A complaint may be brought by the author, a rights holder, or an agent acting under duly notarised documents, supported by evidence of capacity, evidence of the infringement and proof of ownership. The Ministry reviews the complaint and issues an administrative report.
Two procedural features matter more than they are usually given credit for.
First, Article 37 establishes a Grievance Committee of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights within the Ministry, chaired by a judge nominated by the Minister of Justice. Its decisions may be challenged before the Federal Court of Appeal within 30 days. Article 37(4) provides that an action to revoke a Ministry decision is not admissible unless a grievance has first been filed. Proceeding straight to court risks dismissal on admissibility.
Second, Article 35 allows the judge of summary proceedings, on an order on petition, to establish a public performance, to prevent its continuation or prohibit it in future, to attach revenues generated by it, and to seize materials. The applicant may be required to pay a deposit, and must file the substantive claim within 20 days or the order becomes entirely ineffective. Under Article 36, the respondent may file a grievance with the president of the issuing court within 15 days, and that president may revoke the order in whole or in part or appoint a receiver rather than suspend the activity. For a venue mid-season, a receiver may be the better outcome.
A question of standing sits behind all of this. Article 35 confers the jurisdiction on the application of the author or a successor, while Article 32 distinguishes between assignment of economic rights and authorisation to exercise them. Whether an authorised organisation can apply in its own name, or must act as agent under a notarised power, is unresolved on the face of the statute and should be expected to be tested.
Civil and criminal exposure
Article 39 provides for imprisonment of not less than two months and a fine of AED 10,000 to AED 100,000, or either penalty, where moral or economic rights are infringed without written permission, with penalties imposed by reference to the number of works involved. On recidivism, the range rises to imprisonment of not less than six months and a fine of AED 100,000 to AED 500,000. Article 42 permits confiscation, closure of the establishment for up to six months, and publication of a summary of the conviction at the convict’s expense.
On the civil side, Article 43 refers compensation claims to the general rules, which means loss must be proved rather than assessed by reference to a tariff. That shapes strategy on both sides, and often makes a declaratory and injunctive outcome the more efficient claim.
Next steps before 1 December
· Obtain the current version of the Guide and the applicable tariff directly from a licensed collective management organisation, rather than working from press summaries.
· Map where music is used across the business, distinguishing recorded, live, streamed and broadcast use, and identify which category applies to each space rather than to the business as a whole.
· Test existing licences against that map, paying particular attention to multi-use properties and multi-site groups where duplication and gaps often sit side by side.
· Confirm which legal entity holds each licence and whether that entity is the one operating the venue.
· Review supplier, venue and event contracts for warranties, indemnities and liability caps relating to music rights.
· Put record-keeping in place capable of establishing what was played, where and when, since in a contested claim those records are the primary evidence for both sides.
Our disputes and litigation team advises hospitality, retail, leisure and events businesses on licensing disputes, urgent applications and enforcement proceedings.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The Guide to the Collective Management of Music Rights is a developing instrument and has already been revised once. Businesses should obtain the current version and the applicable tariff from a licensed collective management organisation, and take advice on their own arrangements.
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Essa Ziad Galadari Managing Partner – Abu Dhabi, Deputy Head of Litigation, Dubai [email protected] |
