Colombia's Music Law Bill 2026: What's Coming for Artists, Bands, and Music Businesses

Colombia's Music Law Bill (PL 373/2025 House / 048/2024 Senate) was approved in its final legislative debate on June 2, 2026 and is pending presidential sanction to become enforceable law. The reconciled text was published in Congressional Gazette number 667 of 2026.

If you're a musician, manager, production company, or events business operating in Colombia, it's worth knowing what the approved text actually says — not the press version, but what was actually written into law.

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What does the bill aim to achieve?

The stated purpose of the law is to establish the legal, financial, coordination, recognition, and strengthening conditions for Colombia's Music Sector (SMC), contributing to its development and to fulfilling the cultural rights of all Colombians.

In practical terms: the Colombian state formally recognizes that music is simultaneously a cultural right and an economic industry, and that for decades it operated without its own legal framework. This law builds that framework: it creates the fund that finances it, the information system that measures it, the council that governs it, and a series of measures touching everything from musical instruments to copyright contracts.

The implicit reference in the design is the Film Development Fund (FDC): the model that has reinvested in Colombian cinema from resources the film industry itself generates. The music law seeks to build something equivalent.

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What the approved text says

The Music Sector Special Fund (Art. 4–7)

The fund is the financial backbone of the law. It is created as an autonomous patrimony without legal personality, attached to the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Knowledge — administered within the Ministry or delegated to a non-profit entity selected through public call.

Where does the money come from? The approved text defines six sources:

• Appropriations from the Ministry of Cultures and its attached entities
• National Budget resources (subject to the Fiscal Framework)
• 10% of the contribution under Article 120 of Law 418 of 1997 (public security resources that have historically funded cultural activities)
• Donations and cooperation (with potential tax incentives)
• 1% of revenues collected under numerals 2.2, 2.3, and 2.6 of Article 57 of Law 2277 of 2022 (the latest tax reform)
• Returns generated by the fund itself

What is it used for? The fund has eight investment lines, with a clear rule: at least 40% of resources must go to creation, production, and circulation processes for non-massive artists (independents who don't belong to the mainstream market). The rest is distributed among training, venue networks, community processes, research and heritage, live music venue support, audience development, and sector associativity.

How do you access it? Access to the fund's resources is conditional on registration in SIMUS — the music information system also created by the law. Registration is free and voluntary, but without it there's no call you can apply to.

VAT Exemption on Instruments and Equipment (Art. 16)

The law amends Article 478 of the Tax Code. The approved text differentiates between what is exempt and what is excluded from VAT — a tax distinction that matters:

Exempt (zero rate, with right to VAT refund in the chain): musical works, compositions, scores, arrangements, original phonograms, and creative musical expressions in physical or digital format. Same treatment as books.

Excluded (no VAT generated, but no right to refund either): musical instruments, specialized software and hardware for audio editing and creation, and intermediation services via license for making phonograms available on the internet — but only when owned by non-massive artists, as classified by the National Government.

Also excluded: raw materials, inputs, parts, and tools for manufacturing, repairing, and maintaining instruments destined for luthiers, artisans, and musical manufacturing companies registered in SIMUS.

The instrument benefit does not apply universally. The "non-massive artist" classification — which the Government must regulate with income-level criteria — will be the access requirement.

Air Transport of Instruments (Art. 17)

The text establishes specific dimension and weight rules, not a percentage cap on the ticket price:

• In cabin: substitute for carry-on baggage, maximum 55 × 35 × 25 cm or 115 linear cm, up to 10 kg
• In cargo hold: substitute for one included checked bag, maximum 158 linear cm, up to 23 kg

To access the benefit, the musician must be registered in SIMUS and hold Ministry certification. The Civil Aviation Authority has six months from the effective date to issue the regulatory circular binding airlines.

Festivals and Events with Public Funding (Art. 15)

Events and festivals financed with public resources must include independent artists or non-massive groups, with a concrete rule: 40% of those artists must be led by or comprised of women (singer-songwriters, instrumentalists, or composers). It's not "emerging artists or women" as reported by several media outlets — it is specifically women in that proportion. The text clarifies that the percentage may increase but not decrease.

Immigration Facilities for Foreign Musicians (Art. 18)

Migración Colombia will enable processing of the Entry and Stay Permit for artistic activities (POA) for foreign musicians, technicians, and production staff coming for shows, tours, recordings, or music projects — without needing a work visa. DIAN will simplify the temporary admission regime for instruments, replacing the monetary guarantee with a responsibility declaration from the producer registered in SIMUS.

Copyright Management: the Fraudulent Manager Figure (Art. 20)

This is perhaps the most practically impactful point for the industry. The law regulates the management of public communication rights and precisely defines who can collect that right: the holder (in individual management, proving ownership) or a collective management society (SAYCO, ACINPRO). Both modalities are valid, but cannot be concurrent.

The novelty is the Fraudulent Manager figure: anyone who licenses public communication without being a proven rights holder or a collective management society under the law. Clearance certificates issued by a Fraudulent Manager have no legal validity and the manager is exposed to compensating the rights holder, the defrauded user, and can be criminally reported (Arts. 270, 271, and 272 of the Criminal Code).

This is relevant for bars, restaurants, live music venues, event organizers, and platforms that currently receive charges from entities that don't always properly accredit their representation.

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What does this mean for your legal structure?

The law creates real opportunities, but also access requirements that should be understood before the law takes effect.

• If you want to access fund resources, the first step is to anticipate SIMUS registration — it will be the entry requirement for almost all benefits.
• If you organize festivals with public co-financing, review your programming processes and booking contracts now to meet the 40% women quota.
• If you own a venue with live music, the collective management regulation affects you: it's worth reviewing who you currently have a contract with and whether that entity can accredit its legitimacy to collect that right.
• If you import instruments or equipment, the VAT exclusion has conditions (SIMUS registration, non-massive artist classification) that must be met to retain the benefit.

At Breuk we help artists, managers, and cultural sector businesses structure themselves legally for these kinds of changes. If you have questions about how this bill affects you, reach out.

Last updated: June 2026. The text was approved in its final debate and published in Congressional Gazette 667 of June 9, 2026. It is pending presidential sanction. Definitive effects depend on the promulgation date and subsequent Government regulation.