Copyright at festivals and music events: an SGAE, AGEDI and AIE guide

If you organize music events in Spain, copyright is one of the most opaque and least understood costs in the budget. Almost no organizer fully understands what is paid, why, to whom and when. The consequence is that many events overpay, others underpay (with the risk of a later audit and penalty) and nearly all of them handle it at the last minute, when nothing can be negotiated anymore.

Rights management is not optional. Any event that plays music in public (live or recorded) must report that use to the corresponding collective management organizations and pay the applicable fees. Failing to do so does not mean you do not owe anything: it means you will pay later, with surcharges and possibly with penalties.

This guide explains how SGAE, AGEDI and AIE work at music events, what each organization charges, how fees are calculated in general terms, which procedures are mandatory and the mistakes that cost the most. It is not personalized legal advice: for specific cases, consult a copyright specialist or the relevant management organization directly.

Who's who: the three organizations involved

In Spain, there are three collective management organizations that may be involved in a music event:

SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores)

SGAE manages authors' rights: composers, lyricists and music publishers. When a song plays at your event, the creator of the song is entitled to compensation. That is what SGAE collects and distributes.

It applies whether the music is played live (a band performing their own songs or covers of others) or played back (a DJ, background music, ambiance). Any public use of musical works in its catalog creates an obligation to pay.

AGEDI (Asociación de Gestión de Derechos Intelectuales)

AGEDI manages phonogram producers' rights: the record labels that published the recordings. When you play a commercial recording (an album, a single, a digital track), you are not only using the song (what SGAE charges for) but also the specific recording of that song (what AGEDI charges for).

AGEDI does not apply to music played live, because in that case there is no recording being played back. It almost always applies when there is a DJ, background music, changeover music between performances or any playback of recordings.

AIE (Artistas Intérpretes o Ejecutantes)

AIE manages performers' rights: the singers and musicians who played on the recordings. Its logic is parallel to AGEDI's: when you play a commercial recording, the artists who performed it are also entitled to compensation.

AGEDI and AIE usually act jointly or have coordinated agreements, which in practice means that management and payment are handled through a single channel.

Practical summary by event type

When and how it applies

The criterion: "public communication"

The obligation is triggered when there is public communication of musical works. In practice, this happens at any event open to the public, with free or paid admission, where music is played. The threshold is very low: it does not need to be a mega-festival; a private corporate event with 100 attendees and ambient music can also qualify.

There are some cases where the obligation does not apply or is adjusted: purely family and private gatherings, events that only use repertoire outside of collective management (more on this below) or certain very specific educational contexts. For the vast majority of commercial events, the obligation fully applies.

Who pays

The party responsible for payment is the event organizer. That means the individual or legal entity that assumes the risks and the revenue of the event. Not the artist's promoter, not the catering company, not the venue (unless it is the venue that organizes the event). Correctly identifying the organizer matters because notifications, invoices and, where applicable, claims are directed at that party.

How fees are calculated (without going into specific numbers)

The fees of SGAE, AGEDI and AIE are officially published and change periodically. That is why this guide does not include specific percentages: any number given today could be out of date tomorrow. What we can describe is the general logic that applies to most events.

Common variables that affect the fee

• Capacity: the number of people who can attend the event.
• Average ticket price: a single rate or a weighted average of tickets sold.
• Total ticket revenue (gross box office): in many cases it is the base on which a percentage is applied.
• Event type: festival, concert, set, club, private event.
• Duration: fees are usually different for a single day than for a season.
• Repertoire coverage: what percentage of the repertoire used belongs to each management organization.

The formula combines these variables with criteria defined in the official fee schedules. For an event with paid admission, the most widespread model is a percentage of box office revenue with minimums based on capacity. For free events, it is usually a fixed amount based on capacity and duration.

Where to check current fees

The official fees are published on each organization's website. SGAE has a calculator where, by entering the event type, capacity and other parameters, you can get an estimate. AGEDI and AIE have published fee structures. For significant events, the sensible approach is to contact each organization directly and request the specific fee for your case. For recurring events, there are framework agreements that may be more efficient than settling event by event.

Prior notification: the procedure almost no one gets right

What it is and why it matters

Before the event, the organizer must notify the management organizations that an event involving the use of music will take place. That notification is a formal procedure that records: date, location, capacity, event type, expected artists, format (live, DJ, mixed), ticket price and the organizer's details.

Prior notification is not optional. Failing to do it does not exempt you from payment: it means the settlement will be calculated afterward, with less room for negotiation and, sometimes, with surcharges. It also makes it harder to prove what was actually used at the event in the event of a dispute.

Common deadlines

Deadlines vary across organizations but, as a general reference, prior notification must be done far enough in advance to allow for processing (typically between 7 and 15 days before the event). Events notified very late or not notified at all fall under a different regime, generally less favorable to the organizer.

Repertoire: the list of works

For live events, the organizations usually require the list of works performed: the songs each band played. This list is submitted after the event as part of the settlement. It matters because the revenue is distributed among authors and publishers based on which works were actually used, not on an estimate.

For events with a DJ or recorded music, the list of works is operationally more complex. The organizations accept approximate declarations or estimated percentages, but it is advisable to keep reasonable records of what was played (most modern DJ software generates an automatic log that serves this purpose).

Repertoire outside collective management

Free music and Creative Commons

Not all music is managed by SGAE/AGEDI/AIE. There are works under Creative Commons licenses or in the public domain that do not create an obligation with these organizations. There are also artists who have expressly opted out of collective management and operate under direct licenses.

If your event uses exclusively free repertoire, in theory it does not create an obligation with the organizations. In practice, proving it requires detailed documentation (a list of works with their specific license) and, even so, the organizations may require verification. For a one-off event with a free-music artist, this is manageable; for a festival with multiple performances, it is usually unworkable.

Music commissioned from the artist

If you commission an artist to create an original work specifically for your event, and that artist has not assigned the rights to a management organization, there is no obligation with the organizations for that work. But the contract with the artist must be clear on this point and, if the artist later assigns those rights, the situation changes for future uses.

Post-event settlement

The process

After the event, the organizer submits the settlement: documentation that evidences the actual revenue, the effective attendance, the actual duration of the event and, where applicable, the list of works. The final fee is calculated on that documentation, and it may match the prior estimate or be adjusted up or down.

If admission is ticketed digitally, documenting revenue is trivial: your ticketing platform generates a certified report that evidences the actual sales. If sales are at the box office with cash and no system, the organizer must document the revenue with their own records, which is considerably more laborious and prone to dispute.

Deadlines and payment methods

The organizations usually allow payment in full, in installments or, for recurring organizers, in open-account arrangements. For one-off events, payment is usually settled within a few months after the event. Late payments incur surcharges.

Special cases

Festivals with several stages

Each stage is, for management purposes, a unit of public communication. The final fee takes the event as a whole into account, but the documentation includes what was played on each stage and at what time. For mid-size and large festivals, this requires an operational system that records performances in a traceable way.

Cover bands and tributes

A cover band plays songs by other authors. The obligation with SGAE fully exists because the works still belong to the original author and the society manages them on their behalf. The exception would be bands that only play works in the public domain, which is very uncommon in a commercial repertoire.

DJs

A DJ set with recorded music creates an obligation with all three organizations: SGAE (the song's author), AGEDI (the recording's producer) and AIE (the recording's performers). If the DJ produces their own mixes and does not use commercial recordings, the situation changes, but these cases are a minority.

Private corporate events

Even if an event is closed to a specific audience (employees, clients), it is considered public communication if it brings together a group that is not strictly family or close friends. Corporate events, presentations, company dinners with music: all create an obligation, although the fees may be treated differently than events open to the public.

Common mistakes and their consequences

Not notifying and waiting to see what happens

The management organizations actively monitor significant events through posters, public announcements and, increasingly, social media data. If your event exists and you have not notified it, there is a high probability that sooner or later a claim will appear under less favorable conditions than if you had notified on time. The "I won't notify and we'll see" strategy does not work and ends up costing more.

Underestimating capacity or revenue

Some organizers report a capacity or revenue lower than the actual figure to reduce the fee. If the organization detects the discrepancy (and the control systems are increasingly sophisticated), the correction entails paying the difference plus surcharges and, in serious cases, administrative penalties.

Confusing SGAE with AGEDI/AIE

Paying only SGAE while believing that this covers everything is a frequent mistake among new organizers. If there is recorded music at your event, AGEDI and AIE also apply. Paying SGAE but not AGEDI/AIE does not exempt you from the obligation with the latter two.

Not correctly identifying the organizer

When the organizer is a company but the event is notified under the name of an individual (or vice versa), the invoices do not match and the subsequent correction can be tedious. Correctly identifying the responsible party from the prior notification onward avoids problems.

Not keeping documentation

The event documentation (poster, list of works if applicable, prior notification, payment receipts) must be kept for years. If in a later audit you are asked to prove that you complied, having everything organized is the difference between five minutes and five weeks of paperwork.

How to plan for it from ticketing

A professional ticketing platform makes copyright compliance easier in four ways:

• Certified revenue data: your platform's sales report is the cleanest documentation for the settlement. The organizations trust this format because it is objectively verifiable.
• Recorded actual attendance: counting validations at the door evidences the effective attendance of the event, which may differ from the venue's legal capacity.
• Documented ticket categories: the calculation base is the actual revenue, not the maximum price.
• Time traceability: the effective duration of the event (when it started, when it ended) is recorded and allows you to adjust fees that depend on this variable.

More on the taxation of ticket sales in Spain, which is related to but not to be confused with copyright, in our dedicated guide.

Conclusion

Copyright at music events is a real, predictable and manageable cost if you plan for it from the start. What turns it into a problem is ignoring it, notifying it late or trying to minimize it with inaccurate documentation. None of those strategies work in the medium term.

The practical rule is simple: include the SGAE/AGEDI/AIE estimate in your budget from the very first version, notify the event on time, keep the documentation and work with certified data from your ticketing platform. With that, compliance is operational, not a headache.

Does your ticketing platform generate the documentation you need to settle rights without friction? Request a Futura Tickets demo and we'll show you how integrated reporting simplifies compliance with SGAE, AGEDI and AIE for any event format.

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*This guide describes the general operation of management organizations in Spain for informational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. For specific cases, consult a copyright specialist or each organization directly.*