Belgium's Tomorrowland Festival Ends with Record Viewership as Sabam Launches Usage‑Based Licensing

Tomorrowland Belgium 2026 wrapped up after two weekends in July, drawing roughly 400,000 attendees from over 200 countries to the De Schorre site in Boom. The event’s livestream reached a record 233 million views across platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, surpassing the previous year’s figures. Head‑liners included Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Amelie Lens, David Guetta and Hardwell, among others, delivering a themed program built around the festival’s “Consciencia” concept.

In parallel, the Belgian copyright collecting society Sabam approved Vollou as an official provider of music‑recognition technology, enabling a usage‑based licensing model. The system automatically logs every track played in a venue using existing sound equipment, allowing royalties to be calculated on actual usage rather than estimations. This change aims to deliver fairer payments to artists and could reduce licensing fees for clubs that play unreleased or exclusive tracks. Vollou already works with societies such as PRS for Music in the United Kingdom and Buma Stemra in the Netherlands.