Making tracks – Arabian Business: Latest News on the Middle East, Real Estate, Finance, and More

Saudi Arabia is establishing the foundations of a music landscape built on clear rights structures and long-term stability. As the sector grows, intellectual property is emerging as one of the defining components of the wider ecosystem, shaping how creators participate in the market and how music businesses operate. A central part of the Kingdom’s development is the expansion of its intellectual property (IP) framework and developing its own collective management organisation (CMO), designed to collect royalties and licensing fees on behalf of Saudi musicians and create the flows that support songwriters and performers.

Widely recognised as being one of the world’s leading lawyers in digital media, Gregor Pryor is Managing Partner – Europe and Middle East – at Reed Smith and based in Riyadh. He explains the importance of a CMO: “The simplest way to think about it is it means that artists get paid when their music is being played in a public place or performed. Many markets have these systems, although they’re not always perfect.”

The establishment of a CMO in the Kingdom will be transformative for the sustainability of the music business and offer the stability and frameworks necessary to not only ensure artists get paid when their music is used, but give domestic and international music industry companies the confidence to continue to invest here.

“The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) is shaping a framework that transforms IP rights from a mere legal concept into economic assets, ensuring that creators and rights holders are fairly rewarded for their creativity and contribution,” explains Dr. Alhanoof AlDebasi, Executive Director for Copyrights and Designs. “SAIP’s role is not merely administrative; it serves as the chief architect of Saudi Arabiaʼs entire IP ecosystem.

“The development of a robust collective management organisation (CMO) in Saudi Arabia is vital as it marks a new era for creators and rights holders in the Kingdom. The work underway is focused not just on establishing an entity, but on developing the entire legal, administrative, capacity-building, and technological framework that will allow for the efficient licensing, monitoring, and distribution of royalties, which is a key factor for creative industries.

“SAIP has been actively engaged in amending laws and regulations related to copyright and related rights, ensuring they align with international treaties and best practices. A significant part of this work involves public consultations with key stakeholders, including creators, producers, broadcasters, and others, to ensure that the copyright legal framework and specifically CMO is practical and fair to advance and protect creative works.

“SAIP is focusing on developing a robust copyright protection for creators and rights holders. First, it offers Optional Copyright Registration Services for different types of works to ensure that creative works are registered and protected, with more than 10,000 creative works already registered. Furthermore, SAIP is proactively issuing clear IP guidelines across complex, emerging areas, including copyright protection for games, movies, and music, as well as providing clarity on the use and protection of AI-generated content. Dr. AlDebasi says SAIP is also raising awareness across the public and private sectors by offering and training more than 11,500 people, and is focusing on capacity building to best serve creators and rightsholders. “To date, more than 250 licensed agents have acquired the tools and necessary training to administer and protect IPRs,” she reveals.

“IP respect is another area of interest. SAIP is actively focusing on enforcement and institutional cooperation to foster a culture that values IPRs. It conducts targeted campaigns and inspections… which resulted in more than 7,900 infringed websites that had been blocked, withmore than 22,900 removed infringing content. With more than 160 IP Respect Officials now accredited, internal compliance and interagency coordination are significantly enhanced, fostering a culture that values IP rights.”

Building a truly modern CMO and IP framework from the ground up is an opportunity to leapfrog legacy systems in other countries – learning from the inefficiencies elsewhere and ensuring they are not repeated. As economist Will Page said at the recent Cultural Investment Conference in Riyadh: “Why is it, as a songwriter and an artist in the UK, it takes months to get paid from Spotify, and as a songwriter it takes years? In 2025 it should be days, if not hours. [Saudi Arabia] could build something far more efficient – costing less, less cream coming off the milk in terms of administration costs – speeding up payments and delivering better accuracy.”

From the perspective of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Saudi Arabia’s approach stands out for the strategic coherence underpinning it. As WIPO Deputy Director General Hasan Kleib puts it: “Saudi Arabia’s progress in enhancing its music IP framework is distinguished by its grounding in a comprehensive national strategy. The Kingdom has rooted these efforts within a coordinated, whole-of-government plan.”

He points to the alignment between ministries, regulators, and cultural institutions since the launch of the national IP strategy in 2022, noting that “this coherence… drives regulatory alignment across institutions and sectors,” and is “essential to building a mature, trusted IP ecosystem for modern creative industries.”

Kleib also highlights the rapid development of a digitally driven music market. “The Government’s commitment to building a world-class recorded music industry coincides with surging digital consumption: high YouTube penetration and the localisation of global streaming platforms. These conditions position the Kingdom to evolve from an emerging market into one projected to reach nearly half a billion USD by 2034.”

He adds that the broader creative ecosystem – creative districts, training platforms, and incubators – ensures “young creators… have the skills and opportunities needed to participate in the creative economy,” strengthening both rights awareness and rights monetisation.

Kleib notes that international cooperation will become increasingly important as Saudi creators reach global audiences. He explains that WIPO’s treaty framework “creates harmonised legal protection across jurisdictions, essential when music reaches multiple markets simultaneously through digital platforms.” Without this international structure, he notes, creators face “fragmented national laws making global monetisation complex and risky.” He adds that WIPO’s technical assistance helps ensure Saudi works are properly identified, tracked, and licensed, supporting fair value for creators at home and abroad.

Pryor sees the alignment with international systems as key. “If the Kingdom can align itself with global best practices, that’s going to help people invest. The quicker the Kingdom can align itself with operational norms, the more likely they are to attract inbound investment.”

Saudi Arabia is making tracks in more ways than one. The development of a functioning rights infrastructure is creating a path for creators to be recognised, remunerated, and able to participate fully in the market. As the CMO framework takes shape, the Kingdom is building the route on which its music sector will travel.

This story first appeared in The Business of Music