Music licensing: what's a music license and why do I need one?
Putting on some music in the background at your business isn't as simple as just pressing play.
You run a business and want to play music. Something that suits your brand, fills the quiet and encourages people to stay a little longer. Seems simple enough. Enter public performance licenses and performing rights organizations. Suddenly not quite so straightforward.
Music licensing has a reputation for being complicated, and for good reason. All's not lost. The fundamentals are easy to grasp. Once you've got them, it'll be smooth sailing.
You've done this before. Serving alcohol requires a liquor license. Putting tables on the street requires a permit. Handling food equals hygiene certificates and inspections.
Running a business comes with a stack of permissions. Music is no different, it just happens to be the one that's often forgotten.
Playing music in a business works differently than listening at home. The licensing that covers the showertime hits playlist you blast each morning won't handle the speakers in your store, restaurant or salon. Let's dive in.
Personal music apps aren't built for business
The practical problems are probably the first to show. Different accounts needed for different locations. No easy way to manage music across a team or a brand. It can be tedious and restrictive. The truth is that personal apps weren't ever designed for this type of use, and so it shows.
The heavyweight issues run a little deeper. Services like Spotify and Apple Music have never been licensed for business use. Playing them in a business space breaches the terms and conditions you likely didn't read, but accepted when you created your account.
Perhaps you think that nothing will ever happen, or that nobody will ever notice. The reality is that the T&Cs that you agreed to don't cover your business, leaving you and your company exposed.
The reason is simple. The licensing that's baked into personal apps only covers listening for one pair of ears: yours and yours alone.
Music creators get compensated for one listener, even when that music is filling a room full of customers. One movie ticket doesn't let you bring your whole family along. Same logic, same problem.
The two sides of business music licensing
Licensing for businesses has two halves. We'll start with the platform or service licensing. These licenses are baked into a proper business music service. They cover the permission to make songs available on a technical level.
Soundtrack is licensed to make its catalog of over 125 million songs available to its users for business use. This is the exact piece of the puzzle that personal apps are missing.
On the other side of the coin is public performance licensing. The permission to play music out loud in a public space. Quite literally: through your speakers, to the ears of your customers. These come from performing rights organizations (PROs), which collect and distribute fees on behalf of music rightsholders.
In some markets, public performance rights are part of Soundtrack's offering, thanks to agreements with the relevant organizations. In particular, the United States and Canada. For other locations, you'll need to purchase licenses directly from the local PROs. Skipping that step or leaving it for later would put your business at risk.
How it gets complicated: many PROs, many markets
Every track typically carries two sets of rights: one for the musical work (the lyrics and composition, usually owned by the songwriter and publisher) and one for the sound recording (usually owned by the record label or the artist).
Two sets of rights, typically two different owners. And the music hasn't even hit your speakers yet.
Zoom out to the global market perspective. Here's where music licensing earns its reputation. A single market can have many different PROs in operation, each representing different rightsholders.
Say organizations A and B represent artists 1, 2 and 3. Organization C represents artists 4, 5 and 6. If a streaming service is only licensed with A and B, its users shouldn't be able to access music from C's artists. They also wouldn't then need a license from organization C.
So far, so good? Let's keep going.
A single artist's songs can be split across different PROs. Artist 1 might have some songs registered with organization A and others with organization C. So, a service licensed with A and B can only offer the part of artist 1's catalog those organizations cover. The rest stays out of reach.
You'd be smart to question how you can possibly navigate this complexity. It really depends on which service you use, which organizations it's licensed with and which licenses you hold locally.
The most practical route is to opt for a service built for business, matched with the right licenses for your market. Add your public performance licenses on top as needed, and you're about to hit a home run.
How it can go wrong: multiple rules, multiple risks
You wouldn't pour drinks without a liquor license or open a kitchen without passing a health inspection. Music deserves the same respect: playing music without the right licenses truly isn't a risk worth taking.
In some markets, the organizations representing music rightsholders actively pursue businesses using music without proper licensing. Litigation does happen and it's often not pretty.
It goes without saying that court cases are usually time-consuming and expensive. They can also prove to be damaging for your profits and your reputation. It's worth getting right from the start.
How to get it right: the right service, the right licenses
Step one: choose a music service that's built and licensed for business. Handle the service side of the coin in one fell swoop. With Soundtrack, all plans include the platform-related rights you need to stream music in your business — the piece that personal apps can't (and won't) give you.
Step two: purchase public performance licenses. In the US and Canada these are bundled with your Soundtrack plan, thanks to agreements with the relevant organizations. Note the exceptions: if you charge admission fees, play live music or use music timed to exercise classes, you may need additional permissions.
Elsewhere in the world, you'll get these licenses from your local PROs directly and many have made it refreshingly simple by teaming up on a single offering. Sort it once, keep it current, get straight back to running your business.
Soundtrack is built for business, with the world's largest catalog of licensed business music and thousands of expert-curated playlists to match your brand. Every play is tracked accurately, so the system behind the music works the way it should.
The right music, in the right place, at the right time with licensing handled the right way from the start. Pressing play has never been easier.
