Guides

Music publishing in Italy

How music publishing actually works in Italy: who claims which rights, what the national copyright system does, and what it takes for a publisher to set up and collect.

Who claims which rights

Performance and mechanical: SIAE (competitors like Soundreef now handle some repertoire). Sync: direct.

Copyright registration in Italy

SIAE itself runs Italy's public deposit registry for works — a legacy of its statutory role — though Berne protection is automatic.

Setting up to claim publishing rights

SIAE admits publishers with an Italian administrative footprint in mind; foreign catalogs overwhelmingly enter via Italian sub-publishers. Since liberalization in 2018, some repertoire routes through independent managers instead — check which body actually claims your writers' works.

The societies

SIAE — each linked page covers the society’s history and how registrations reach it.

Rules, fees, and society requirements change, and none of this is legal advice — confirm current requirements with the society or local counsel before committing. Registrations bound for Italy can be checked free on the validator · more: setting up country by country · which societies accept CWR.

Check a CWR file free — errors and warnings tied to the exact line, nothing stored: cwrcheck.com.