A collective management organisation (CMO), also called a performing rights organisation (PRO) or collecting society, manages rights on behalf of many authors, publishers, performers or producers at once. As WIPO describes it, a CMO monitors how works are used, negotiates tariffs, grants licences to users such as broadcasters, venues and digital services, then collects the fees and distributes them to rights holders. Without such bodies, a café or a radio station would have to negotiate separately with every rights holder.
Different organisations handle different rights. Composers and publishers are represented by societies such as SIAE in Italy, PRS for Music in the UK and ASCAP or BMI in the US, while performers and producers have their own bodies for related rights. In the EU, Directive 2014/26/EU sets common rules on governance and transparency. Italian law reserves intermediation to SIAE and other collective management organisations, and in 2024 the EU Court of Justice held that wholly excluding independent management entities from other member states breaches EU law.
Membership rules and tariffs vary widely by country, so specific questions are best put to the relevant society or a specialist adviser.