Playing Music in a Restaurant or Cafe in Türkiye: Is a Copyright Licence Required?

Article 24 of FSEK gives the author the right to use a work through performance in public places, such as reading, playing, performing and showing it. Article 25 makes communication of a work to the public by radio, television, satellite, cable or digital transmission the author's right.

The key article for venues is Article 41: places open to the public, whether admission is paid or free, obtain permission from right holders or the collecting societies they belong to before using and/or transmitting works, performances, phonograms, productions and broadcasts, and pay the fees stated in the contract. A restaurant or cafe is covered even if it charges no entry.

A song has more than one right holder. According to the list of collecting societies kept by the General Directorate of Copyright of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism:

• •MESAM and MSG: owners of musical works. They represent composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers, i.e. the owners of the work itself.
• •MÜYAP: phonogram producers. It represents the producers who made the recording.
• •MÜYORBİR: performing artists. It represents the artists who sing and play the recording.

According to the Ministry's announcement there are two umbrella federations in the music sector: the Music Sector Copyright Owners Federation (Müzik Sektöründe Eser Sahipleri Federasyonu, MSF) for authors, and the Music Sector Related Rights Federation (Müzik Sektöründe Bağlantılı Haklar Federasyonu, MÜZFED) for related rights.

One licence, one window: the gastronomy protocol

The law allows societies of authors and of related-rights holders to set joint tariffs (Article 41). According to the Ministry's announcement of 6 March 2025, a Music Licensing Cooperation Protocol was signed between MSF and MÜZFED and, on the gastronomy side, TURYİD and TÜRES. The announcement says the music societies agreed to license through a single channel and to cut tariffs by about 70 percent on average; the discounted single-window licence is mentioned for member businesses of TURYİD and TÜRES.

There are two separate layers: the platform's own terms of use and the public-place permission under the law. One does not replace the other.

• •The Spotify User Agreement grants access to the service and content for personal, non-commercial use and requires you not to use it in any way not expressly permitted.
• •The YouTube Terms of Service restrict viewing or listening to content for anything other than non-commercial personal purposes and give, as an example, that you may not play music publicly from the service.

So a personal subscription gives you no permission to play music to customers over your venue's speakers. Even where platform terms allow it, the public-place permission under FSEK Article 41 still has to be obtained from the collecting societies. If a platform offers a business music service, check in its contract what the licence includes.

Letting customers hear a radio or television broadcast in your venue is also use and transmission in a place open to the public, and Article 41 covers broadcasts. Under Article 80, broadcasters also have the right to allow or prohibit the transmission of their broadcasts in places open to the public. Leaving the radio on therefore does not remove the licensing obligation by itself.

Live music is likewise performance under Article 24. The owner of a work performed on stage may rely on the rule that the performance right cannot be exercised by others without the written permission of the society they belong to. Venues with live music should ask the societies which works are licensed through which society.

The law provides both civil and criminal routes. We do not state amounts; for current figures, see the official announcements of the societies and the relevant legislation.

• •Compensation (Article 68): from a person who performs or communicates a work to the public without permission, the right holder may claim up to three times the fee they could have asked for under a contract, or the customary fee.
• •Criminal penalty (Article 71): for those who perform or communicate a work to the public without the written permission of right holders, imprisonment of one to five years or a judicial fine is provided. Investigation and prosecution depend on a complaint (Article 75).
• •Injunction (Article 77): on the request of right holders or societies, a civil court may order measures to stop the infringement.