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Tell us what you do and where you live. We show which society to join, what it asks for, what it costs and where to apply.

Step 3 · your societies

Songwriter — living in Belgium

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As a songwriter

Join this society in Belgium

Writers generally join one authors' society for a given territory and right. That society collects your writer share from other countries through its agreements with sister societies, so you don't join a second one for the same rights.

SABAM

Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs · Belgium

Your home society
Who can join
Songwriters, Publishers
Joining fee
Authors: €75 one-off admin fee + one share: full €124 (voting) or partial €31 (no vote). Publishers: €200 one-off admin fee + same share options.
Yearly fee
No annual membership fee (authors and publishers).
Processing time
Not published
Apply online
Authors: yes, create a MySabam account (itsme or email) and sign the membership agreement online. Publishers: email documents to affiliation@sabam.be.
Members from abroad
Not published
Who is eligible
  • You are the author or co-author of at least one original work (music, audiovisual, theatre & dance, visual arts or literature); an authorised adaptation or translation may qualify.
  • Your work is used publicly, e.g. performed live, broadcast, streamed or shared online, published or sold.
  • Membership is personal: each band member who writes must join individually.
  • Publishers: prove the works you publish were used in the two years before applying.
What to have ready0 of 3 ready
Apply at SABAM ↗
Sources and notes

Performers only (no writing) belong to PlayRight; if you write and perform, you can join both SABAM and PlayRight.

You must create the account yourself; a manager, parent or guardian cannot do it for you.

Not yet used publicly? SABAM suggests registering the work free via OnlineDepot as proof of creation date.

The apply link is an account-creation page.

Sources — SABAM's own pages, read on 2026-10-06. Fees and rules change: the society's site is the reference.

How we chose these

Your home society comes first: it is the one you join for the rights listed. The joining details come from each society's own website, read on the date shown on its card. Countries we haven't checked yet show the society from our worldwide directory, with a link to its site.

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Why join?

Songwriters

Societies pay the writers registered with them. If you write songs and aren't a member of an authors' society, your writer share of radio, TV, live and streaming plays can't reach you. It sits unidentified until it is claimed, or is shared out to others.

Performers

When a recording you are on is broadcast or played in public, performers are owed a share (neighbouring rights). It is paid through performers' societies, and registering is how it finds you.

Producers and publishers

Master owners collect their share of the same plays through producers' societies. Publishers collect the publisher share of the songs through the authors' society. Both collect through a society membership.

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