Your literary work, your copyrights
Whether you are a novelist, poet, journalist, essayist, or author, your texts circulate, are read, and are shared in many different contexts.
Sabam helps protect your copyright and ensures that you receive the income generated by the use of your work, both in Belgium and internationally.
In practical terms, when your texts are copied, distributed, adapted, or otherwise used, we authorise those uses, manage the associated rights, and ensure that the resulting income reaches you.
When you write an original literary work - a novel, poem, article, play, or podcast script - you automatically hold copyrights. These rights protect your work and entitle you to compensation whenever it is published, reproduced, copied, or used in any other way.
Sabam monitors the use of your work and ensures you receive income for it, including through reprography rights (for copies of your texts), as well as for adaptations for stage or screen and for digital use.
In Belgium and internationally, we manage licences, oversee the use of your work, and help ensure that the income generated by your creations is correctly allocated. This means you do not need to negotiate separately with every publisher, producer, or platform.
Artificial intelligence is also playing an increasingly important role in literature. While this opens up new possibilities, it also raises questions about authorship, protection, and revenue. Sabam is closely monitoring these developments and is working to establish clear frameworks for managing copyrights correctly and transparently, even in an AI context.
Give your literary journey an extra boost
Every piece of writing is a new step in a larger story. Sabam supports authors and publishers at various stages of their careers with grants, assistance, and development opportunities. This gives you the freedom to explore new avenues, further develop your craft, and nurture your ideas, projects, and ambitions.
