Where can I play music from in my business? Can I just turn on the radio?

Music is a business must-have. An awkward, silent environment isn't on any business owner's wish list — or any customer's. But finding the right music can be a little daunting; it's hard to know where to begin. You want music in your business, and you think you're ready to play. If you're looking around your business space, you might naturally spot the TV hanging on the wall or the radio sitting patiently on the side and think you've stumbled across an easy fix. And, true, the small business exemption to the Fairness in Music Licensing Act may allow businesses to play music from broadcast radio or TV based on details like the square footage and how many speakers they're using. However, there are clear restrictions: For a restaurant, the cutoff for this exemption is 3,750 square feet, while for other types of businesses it's 2,000 square feet.

It’s worth considering that the music you choose can drastically affect your business. Research shows time and time again that you can directly profit from playing the right music. Is it worth risking the all-important atmosphere of your business to play from a music source like the radio or TV? At any moment that radio station or channel could play music, an advert or spoken content that doesn't align with your brand and reflects poorly on your business. And it goes without saying that static and poor reception aren't really the best look… or best sound.   

Your second thought might be to turn to your everyday personal music service. However, it’s against the terms of use of services like Spotify, Pandora, Sirius XM, Apple Music, iTunes and YouTube to play music from a personal account in a place of business — and it may also be a copyright infringement. With these options taken out of the running, what’s left?

Of course, there’s always royalty-free music. However, you might find yourself a little restricted. While some music is in the public domain, the worlds of royalty-free music and popular music have relatively little overlap. No matter what type of music you want to play in your business, you’re probably going to run up against limited choices, copyright law, or both. This is exactly why Soundtrack was built — to help your business perform by playing the very best music, legally. 

What licenses do I need to play music legally?

Navigating the world of music licensing can be daunting. When music is used in a business space, there are certain rights that must be in place, as it’s not the same as listening to music in a private setting. Unlike music you play for yourself (often referred to as “personal use”), background music played in a business requires different licenses to legally play background music. Whether you own a restaurant, hotel, bar, retail store, coffee shop or any other type of business, it’s important to purchase these licenses before pressing play.

When you play music from Soundtrack, a licensed business music service, rather than directly from the radio or a TV channel, the recording rights and publishing rights are included. However, outside of the U.S. and Canada, it’s likely that you’ll need to get public performance licenses from the local organizations in your area. Despite the name, a public performance license doesn’t relate to live music only. Whenever copyrighted music is played in a public environment, it’s considered a public performance, so this license is required. 

Other licences to be aware of include a synchronization license, for using copyrighted music in an advertisement or similar, and a live music license, for — you guessed it — playing live music. Additional licensing may also be needed in cases where you use music timed to workout classes or charge for admission. 

Music licenses can be bought directly from the performing rights organizations (PROs) and collective management organizations (CMOs) in your region. It’s worth noting that you often need to get public performance licences from multiple PROs or CMOs. This is because music creators’ rights are managed by different organizations. For example, for one artist, a PRO such as BMI in the U.S. may control full rights to just some of their music, but other PROs, like ASCAP or GMR, may control the rights to the rest.   

What could happen without a proper business music setup?

If a business plays music that hasn’t been correctly licensed and cleared for commercial use, it risks having to deal with fines, or even lawsuits. And we’re not talking about just a slap on the wrist: Penalties can range from just a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plenty of businesses have been forced to shut their doors permanently due to the legal consequences of playing improperly licensed music.

Securing the right licenses isn’t only about protecting business owners from potential legal action. It also ensures that the songwriters, performers, music publishers and other copyright holders who’ve worked to create the music receive the royalty payments they’re owed. And playing music legally in your business means that the artists and bands you listen to get compensated for their work, too.

How can Soundtrack help me?

Soundtrack exists to make it easy for all types of businesses to play great music, legally. With more than 100 million songs available from the world’s best loved artists, you’ll be spoiled for choice when creating your brand sound. Plus, you’ll have access to over 1,800 ready-made business playlists with an average of 20 hours of music each, so you and your staff won’t be stuck listening to repeats! 

Soundtrack is the only business music service that allows you to play music the same way you would from a personal service — by creating your own fully customized drag-and-drop playlists so you can play each and every song exactly when you want to. This is in contrast to internet radio services, for example, that may only let you customize the music by hitting the thumbs-down on songs you don’t like, causing the track to skip abruptly to the next one  — definitely a mood-killer.

The platform is also packed with time-saving tools built specifically for business users. These include music scheduling for forward-planning, an explicit lyric filter for family-friendly tunes and our AI Playlist Creator for instant, unique playlists. You can even import your personal playlists directly from Spotify (Soundtrack began as Spotify for Business, after all).