Starting July 1, 2026, food and beverage businesses across Vietnam will face stricter enforcement of music copyright laws alongside increased royalty fees due to a state-mandated rise in the national base salary. This adjustment will directly impact how fees are calculated for cafes, restaurants, and karaoke venues, prompting authorities to urge proactive compliance to avoid operational disruptions.
HANOI – Food and beverage businesses across Vietnam are bracing for heightened enforcement and increased music copyright fees starting July 1, 2026, driven by a state-mandated hike in the national base salary.
Recent weeks have seen growing concern among cafe and restaurant owners over reports that playing background music will be strictly prohibited without prior royalty payments. However, legal experts clarify that this is not a new legislative mandate, but rather the strict enforcement of existing intellectual property laws combined with an impending rate adjustment.
Under Vietnam’s current Intellectual Property Law, any organization or individual exploiting musical works for commercial purposes—including broadcasting background music in cafes, restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets—must pay royalties to the creators or copyright holders. Using personal streaming platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music to play music publicly in commercial spaces constitutes a copyright infringement unless proper licensing fees are paid.
The July 1, 2026 milestone has drawn significant public attention due to a shift in how these royalties are calculated. In Vietnam, annual music copyright fees are determined using a specific formula: the state base salary multiplied by an adjustment coefficient.
On that date, the government will officially raise the base salary from 2.34 million VND to 2.53 million VND per month. Consequently, the copyright fees levied on service businesses will automatically increase in proportion to this wage hike. Furthermore, regulatory agencies and copyright representation organizations are expected to significantly tighten their monitoring and collection efforts from this date onward.
The fee structure features detailed classifications based on business type and scale:
- Cafes and beverage shops: Fees are calculated based on floor space. For every additional square meter, the adjustment coefficient increases by 0.02 to 0.04 annually. The law caps the maximum royalty payment for this group at eight times the base salary per year.
- Restaurants and conference venues: The coefficient ranges from 0.009 to 0.01 per additional square meter annually, with a maximum yearly cap set at ten times the base salary.
- Karaoke services: Charges are based on the number of rooms or total box area. For venues exceeding 200 square meters, the coefficient is set between 2.35 and 4.0 for every 50 square meters annually.
Legal authorities emphasize that utilizing music to enhance customer experience is a commercial exploitation of artists’ intellectual property. Compliance with royalty payments aligns Vietnam with international standards and its commitments to intellectual property protection.
To ensure transparency, current regulations strictly control the administrative overhead retained by collection agencies, such as the Vietnam Center for Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC). Management deductions are capped at 40% for the first five years of operation, reducing to 30% in the subsequent five years, and capped at a maximum of 25% after a decade. This framework ensures the majority of collected funds reach the original creators.
Authorities are urging business owners to proactively secure licensing agreements to avoid administrative penalties and operational disruptions.
