What is a public performance license?
Using music in your business isn't quite as simple as pressing play.
In a public setting, like your business, you need to be licensed to play any song you don’t personally own the copyright for. To stay compliant with copyright law — and avoid penalties for copyright infringement — you need public performance licenses that grant you permission to play copyrighted music from an artist or band in a public place.
What exactly is a public performance?
In the world of music licensing, a “public performance” is any time when copyrighted music is played in a public space or commercial establishment. This includes: streaming recorded music over a sound system; playing music from a jukebox, radio station or TV channel; hosting karaoke; and having live performances of copyrighted music, including cover bands and DJs.
A public performance license is a formal agreement with the owners of a copyrighted musical composition that allows the license holder, such as a business owner, to play the composition publicly.
Why does your business need a public performance license?
To play copyrighted music in public or in places with public access, a business must purchase public performance rights. Businesses that play music without the correct music licenses may violate copyright law and risk legal action.
Unfortunately, many business owners make the mistake of not obtaining the correct licenses for the music they play, which often results in heavy fines and lawsuits that can force a business to shut its doors.
How can you get a public performance license for your business?
There are many organizations around the world that handle music royalties. These are called PROs and CMOs. A PRO is a performing rights organization, and a CMO is a collective management organization. Both track and collect royalties on behalf of music creators. The difference is that PROs manage only performance royalties, whereas CMOs also collect royalties for the reproduction of music.
A business needs to contact the relevant PROs and/or CMOs in the countries where it operates in order to set up the necessary public performance license — or licenses. It’s often the case that multiple licenses are required. This is because it's very common for one song to be written by multiple music creators who are represented by different organizations.
For example, if you want to play music by Post Malone, Global Music Rights (GMR) covers only a percentage of the rights to each of his hit songs. To play any of these tracks, you would need to secure public performance licenses with all relevant PROs or CMOs.
