Procedure for collecting payments from musicians abroad
Sena has concluded agreements with a large number of foreign collective management organisations (CMOs) for the claiming and payment of foreign funds.
This way, you are assured of the highest and most accurate claim possible when your music is played abroad. We work for musicians according to the two methods below.
Working method 1 for musicians
Method 1: the Virtual Repertoire Database (VRDB)
VRDB stands for Virtual Repertoire Database and is an initiative of SCAPR, the international trade association for neighbouring rights organisations. This global repertoire database aims to improve exchanges between CBOs.
Since 2021, a number of CBOs have started exchanging information via this central database. Each CBO uploads its playlists and repertoire to VRDB, where a “match” is made between the play data and the repertoire. This means that claims are automatically made for all participating CBOs and each CBO has access to the same claims.
Working method 2 for musicians
Method 2: exchanging playlists
Sena exchanges claims with CBOs that do not yet participate in the VRDB on the basis of playlists and claim files.
Step 1
Once a year, we receive a list from all CBOs containing all tracks played during a specific year.
Step 2
We then match the foreign play data with our own repertoire database. We then send the claims per title to the foreign CBO. We do this for all rights holders who have given us a mandate to claim on their behalf in a particular country. We usually send the claims in the second half of the year. We also check for missing claims from the portals of the foreign CBOs. This ensures that our claims are as complete and accurate as possible.
Step 3
The foreign CBO processes our claim data and pays the remuneration per rights holder in accordance with its own distribution rules.
Step 4
Sena pays out the remuneration from abroad during the next payment round (March, June, September or December).
