Bahrain and Oman both require a music royalty society to hold a ministry licence, yet neither has one collecting for songwriters, performers or labels.
A GRUR International report by Iza Razija Mešević, published 13 July 2026, surveyed collective management law across the six Gulf Cooperation Council states. It found “fully developed, yet unimplemented legal regimes” in Oman and Bahrain.
A CMO, or collective management organisation, sells blanket licences to radio stations, hotels and cafes, then splits the money back to rights holders. The report says the UAE’s EMRA, Music Nation and ERRA “currently represent the region’s only operating collective management organizations.”
The law is already written
Both statutes contain the full machinery, minus a licensee.
- Bahrain: Law No. 22 of 2006, Articles 57 to 61. Rights owners may hand management to a society (Art. 57), nobody may run that business without a licence (Art. 59), and the minister must issue an order organising it (Art. 61).
- Oman: Royal Decree 65/2008, Articles 35 to 39. Article 37 bars anyone from managing rights on behalf of others without a Ministry licence, leaving rules and fees to the executive regulations.
The rights themselves exist. Bahrain gives authors exclusive public performance and broadcasting rights (Art. 6), and gives record producers exclusive rights to broadcast their recordings and communicate them to the public (Art. 16).
Oman gives performers and producers exclusive broadcast and communication rights (Arts. 16 and 17), protected for 95 years from publication (Arts. 31 and 32). Bahrain’s term is 70 years (Arts. 42 and 43).
What the gap means in practice
A right with no licensing body behind it has to be licensed one owner and one user at a time. A Manama hotel or a Muscat radio station has no blanket licence to buy, and nobody is tracking what it plays or sending money back.
On our reading of Article 59 in Bahrain and Article 37 in Oman, managing rights for others needs a local licence, so a foreign society’s mandate does not switch on collection inside either country.
Next door, the UAE switched on
- April 2025: EMRA receives the UAE’s first collective management licence under Federal Decree Law No. 38 of 2021 (Music Business Worldwide, Murray Stassen).
- June 2025: Music Nation is licensed, and begins operating that October (MBW, Mandy Dalugdug).
- December 2026: Fees under Ministerial Decision No. 136 of 2026 start for venues, airlines and broadcasters, with 10% of collections going to a music support fund (Emarat Al Youm, 12 August 2026).
We covered the UAE rate card in August, and Saudi Arabia’s new copyright law creates a statutory basis for CMOs. Bahrain and Oman are left with complete rules and nobody using them.
What Bahraini and Omani rights holders can do now
Songwriters: join a society abroad
PRS for Music accepts writers “from anywhere in the world” for a one-off £100 fee, and suggests joining once you expect more than £100 a year in royalties. That covers you wherever PRS has sister societies, but not at home.
With UAE airplay, note that SACEM signed a representation agreement with EMRA in February 2026 covering authors’ and neighbouring rights there (MBW, James Hanley).
Labels and performers: register the masters
SoundExchange’s reciprocal deal with Music Nation pays SoundExchange-registered artists and rights owners when their recordings play in the UAE.
ISRC means International Standard Recording Code, the ID on each recording. Keep it and the ownership data identical across distributor and society, so usage reports match.
Deposit your works at home
Both laws let owners deposit works with the ministry, and Oman’s Article 34 treats a deposit as a presumption of ownership. That record will matter once a society opens and starts matching claims.
Treat streaming as the whole home market
Until a licence is issued, an act’s royalty income from Bahrain or Oman is whatever the DSPs report. A DSP is a digital service provider such as Anghami, Spotify or Apple Music.
Check that your distributor’s statement breaks out Bahrain and Oman as separate territories, because those lines are your only home-market royalty report. InterSpace Distribution pays out to more than 50 territories in a wide range of currencies.
