An overview of business music streaming apps

Today there are more options for streaming licensed music for businesses than ever before. And no wonder: The world of music licensing is highly complex, and artists deserve to be paid fairly when their musical work is used by a brand to achieve their own business goals. Business music streaming services take the hassle out of obtaining performing rights licenses, which means your business can focus on what it does best.

Music licensing rules determine how and where music can be played. The big players in music streaming (think Spotify or Apple Music) have terms and conditions that prohibit customers from using their services for anything other than their own personal enjoyment. This means that streaming your music in a café isn't just against the rules: It leaves your business vulnerable to lawsuits.

So, what options does a business have for streaming music legally? Thankfully, the background music market is alive and well, with plenty of ready options. The best business music streaming services provide a wealth of features that make it easy for businesses to align their soundscape with their brand, improve the customer experience and drive sales.

There are many advantages to playing music in a business setting. A 2021 study by MCR Data found that 41% of American consumers stay longer in a store when they enjoy the music. The same study also showed that music encourages repeat visits, with 39% of American respondents agreeing.

It's clear that the music you play in your business matters, but it's not as simple as firing up your preferred streaming app. The ideal music streaming app for your business shouldn't just ensure legal compliance — it should be a full-service toolkit that uses music to improve your business.

Why your business needs a music streaming service

Let's be clear: Your business needs a license for every song you play. Not having the right licenses could make you liable for lawsuits. If the commercial streaming service you use doesn’t provide performing rights licenses, you may need to get those licenses from at least 3 or 4 separate organizations to cover:

• Recorded background music played over a sound system (e.g., music played from a radio station, music TV channel, jukebox, karaoke machine)

• Live music, including bands that play copyrighted cover songs or a DJ who plays licensed tracks

Using a business music streaming service reduces a lot of this hassle (and cost); but it's important to understand why. Just as you pay your employees for their hard work, it's crucial that you pay the songwriters and performers who shape the ambience of your business. It’s also essential that you protect your business by complying with local copyright laws.

In the United States, purchasing licenses from each of the major performing rights organizations (PROs) means getting separate licenses from ASCAP, BMI and GMR. When you acquire these licenses individually, you don't get access to a streaming platform that filters out any tracks you're not certified to play; the onus is on you. The situation can get messy — and expensive — if a song has multiple copyright owners, or the country you’re operating in has more organizations claiming rights.

What's the best way to avoid all this hassle? Opt for a music streaming app like Soundtrack that gives you the peace of mind that you're playing the right music, the right way.

How to choose the right music streaming service

This is a great time to be a business looking to take your musical identity seriously. With so many services available, you're spoiled for choice. The most popular options all have at least some of the licensing requirements baked in, but this varies by country. To our knowledge, no business music streaming service offers every license necessary outside of the United States and Canada.

Let's look at some out-of-the-box commercial music solutions and see how Soundtrack matches up. Some services offer plenty of customization while also providing automation options that let you take your hands off the controls and focus on the more critical aspects of running your business.

What to look for in a business music streaming service

Below, you'll find some important questions to keep in mind when evaluating business music streaming apps.

How big is the music catalog?

Having access to an extensive music catalog is essential — otherwise, you may find your creativity limited. Playing the right music is key to the ambience of your business, and that's only possible with an incredibly deep selection. A business generally needs access to enough music to build playlists that are at least 24 hours in length in order to limit repetition, which can be off-putting for regular customers and annoying for staff.

In short, you want a business music streaming service with a vast music library that offers you the freedom to play what you want, when you want. While some providers may include licenses from more PROs than others, that doesn't necessarily mean you have more music to choose from.

Soundtrack leads the pack by offering the broadest choice of music. With over 100 million licensed tracks, Soundtrack offers more than twice as much music as other options like Soundsuit, with just 30 million songs. Other competitors offer significantly less.

Remember that all the songs you play in your business must be licensed for commercial use. Background music services typically have smaller catalogs than you're used to with personal music streaming apps like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube.

How user-friendly is the service?

Using a music streaming service should be easy, without a steep learning curve. You and your staff are busy, which means that any app or hardware should be intuitive, so everyone who uses it can easily do what they need to do. Scheduling music, filtering out explicit tracks and building custom playlists with AI should be a breeze.

Services like Rockbot, SiriusXM for Business and Soundsuit have only a few hundred playlists you can choose from. By comparison, Soundtrack offers nearly 2,000 handpicked playlists as well as a built-in AI playlist creator.

Some services offer more or less user control. You may want to look into the business behind the service to get an idea of how often playlists are reviewed and refreshed for quality control.

Labeling and algorithms offer the convenience of automatically generated playlists that span all the music genres the service can recommend for you. This is based on many factors, like what you've previously listened to, your business type, a particular mood, what's trending or what other local businesses play.

Not every service offers complete control, though. For some, it's all AI, and you have limited input. For others, the tools can offer an almost overwhelming level of control. Playlist building, on-demand requests, scheduled messaging and user permissions are all features you'll want to consider before making a decision.

As an example, Pandora for Business is great for setting and forgetting, but it's less ideal if you want more of a say in what's playing. Rockbot might be the right choice if your space is more collaborative, as guests can request songs to queue up.

On the other hand, Soundtrack lets you invite unlimited users, and the level of control you delegate is entirely up to you. You can give users full access to playlist editing or limit them to simply adjusting the volume.

Our tip? Book a demo with a service you like the look of, which will let you see how things work as a logged-in subscriber and give you a chance to ask questions about your use case.

How can I start streaming music in my business?

The level of freedom to play whatever you want differs from service to service. Some music streaming services let you curate playlists tailored to your business, while others don't even have a search function to find a specific song. For some businesses, it's important to have the ability to drag and drop playlists into your weekly schedule or build custom playlists so you have full control over your soundscape.

Soundtrack's plans let you play whatever you want, whenever you want. Make your own playlists from our massive catalog or customize our curated playlists to suit the vibe of your business.

Are you already a Spotify user? Soundtrack is the only business music streaming service that lets you import your Spotify playlists. Unfortunately, not every song that you can play in Spotify is available in the Soundtrack catalog, but our service automatically transforms your playlists into playlists you can legally use in your business without any licensing hassle.

Which devices work with the service?

Some business music streaming services require you to buy their proprietary hardware — but conveniently leave that out of the price point. To see the real costs, you need to add up all of the hardware costs to determine what you’ll actually get and for how much.

Thankfully, Soundtrack offers not only free software but also optional hardware, which are both great options:

• With our free Soundtrack app, you can play and manage the music directly from your smartphone, tablet, Mac or PC.

• With the optional Soundtrack Player, you can stream music at your business without a phone, tablet or computer. The Soundtrack Player stores up to 400 hours of music that you can play offline.

If you already use Sonos in your business, just download the Soundtrack app to your Sonos controller. The Sonos integration makes it easy for every staff member to control the music in an interface they're probably already familiar with.

Can I play different music in different rooms?

You might want to stream one playlist in the bar area of a hotel while you play a completely different playlist in the hotel's restaurant. Likewise, you might opt to use one playlist at a store location across the street from a university, while going for a different playlist at a location in the suburbs.

Music streaming services have various names for the areas of a business where you might play different music. At Soundtrack, we call these zones. Legally speaking, one address can have more than one zone; but if you want to play the same music throughout the building, you need only one zone. And if your business has multiple addresses, we call those locations.

No matter how many zones and locations your business has, the important thing is that your music streaming service covers all the necessary rights and royalties. Keep in mind that adding locations and zones generally adds extra costs to your subscription.

Can I control the music remotely?

No matter the size of your business, it's important that your music streaming service offers remote access to previously curated playlists, stations and schedules — and that you can share these controls with the rest of your team. If part of your team works off-site, you need the freedom to remotely monitor what's playing, update playlists, skip songs and share what's playing with customers.

Likewise, it's crucial that you have the ability to delegate responsibilities to on-site staff members. How much freedom you give your staff over the music is up to you.

If you're looking for complete remote control, look no further than the Soundtrack apps. With a full range of remote apps for iOS, iPadOS and Android devices, it's easy to control the music from anywhere. And with our robust desktop apps, managing your business’s music is a breeze from back of house, too.

Can I filter out explicit music?

An explicit music filter blocks all tracks that are marked by a record label as containing explicit lyrics. Soundtrack's explicit music filter removes these songs from playlists, as well as songs with sensitive subject matter.

Can I create my own playlists?

Creating your own playlists is one of the best ways to take full control of the mood and atmosphere of your business. For a music streaming service to offer on-demand music to business clients, it needs licenses directly from record labels. Unfortunately, not all streaming services offer this option.

Curating a custom music experience from scratch on your own can take quite a bit of time, though. Some businesses have the resources to fine-tune the music down to the minute, while others are comfortable using playlists that focus on a specific genre, energy level or business type.

Soundtrack offers you as much — or as little — control as you need. Start with our extensive collection of playlists or modify them to suit your vibe. If your business wants to set it and forget it, our music team is constantly reviewing and refreshing playlists (or you can take our AI Playlist Creator for a spin). If your personal record collection is big enough to make John Peel blush, Soundtrack's apps make it easy to build your own playlists track by track.

Can I import playlists from Spotify?

Even though conventional music streaming apps aren't licensed for business use, it's understandable why business owners would want to use them to create playlists that match the vibe of their business. That's why Soundtrack is the only business music streaming service that allows you to import playlists and stations directly from Spotify by making sure you have all the necessary licenses. That way, you can play your carefully curated Spotify playlists legally.

Can I play music offline?

Questionable Wi-Fi in your business? Internet issues can cause a range of problems for any company. Look for a service that can save music for a rainy day. Our hardware option, the Soundtrack Player, saves up to 400 hours of music, so you have one less thing to worry about during an internet outage.

Do the subscription costs include licensing fees?

Business music streaming services have varying agreements with PROs and record labels that differ from country to country. That's why it's difficult to compare streaming services directly: Each service might have a different set of licenses in each market.

The best course of action is to make sure you subscribe to a music streaming service that includes all of the licensing fees. In Canada and the United States, all Soundtrack subscription plans include licensing fees. If your business is in another country, our extensive section of guides to music licensing around the world can help. Soundtrack also provides legal documentation that the music you’re playing in your business is fully compliant with licensing laws.

Does the service include audio messaging?

Having the freedom to play audio messaging or overhead promotions between songs is a great way to connect with customers. A business can target high-intent audiences with centrally managed messages about ongoing promotions or important announcements about store hours.

Ideally, a business music streaming service lets you blend these messages seamlessly into your playlists and stations. Soundtrack offers two ways to create in-store messaging:

• Using Soundtrack's text-to-speech technology, which lets you enter a script, pick the language and the speed of the message, then customize the voice's gender and pitch.

• Uploading prerecorded audio messages.