Playing music in your business: licences, streaming and hardware

Playing music in a cafe, bar, gym or shop is a public performance of that music. In most countries that needs permission from the people who own the rights, on top of whatever you pay for the music itself. This guide covers the basics so you can sort it out before it becomes a problem.

Personal streaming accounts are for personal use

Consumer streaming plans are generally licensed for personal, non-commercial use. Spotify, for example, states that its service is only for personal, non-commercial use and cannot be played publicly from a business such as a bar, restaurant or store. Instead, businesses use business music services, which are licensed for commercial playback and often add scheduling, multiple zones and content suited to venues.

Public performance licences

Separately from the music service, many countries require a public performance licence, usually issued by a collecting organisation that pays royalties to songwriters, artists and labels. For example:

• New Zealand: OneMusic, a joint initiative of APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ, licenses businesses to play music.
• United Kingdom: TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS covers most businesses playing recorded or live music.
• Australia: OneMusic Australia licenses businesses playing music.
• United States: performing rights organisations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR license public performance.

Fees usually depend on the type of business, its size and how music is used. Background music, live music and music for exercise classes are often priced differently.

Hardware: make the music source reliable

Whatever service you choose, the music has to play all day without anyone babysitting a phone. Good set-ups use:

• A dedicated player or small computer that only runs the music, not a staff member's phone.
• A wired network connection rather than Wi-Fi where possible.
• A player that starts automatically after a power cut and resumes the schedule.
• Offline caching, so music keeps playing if the internet drops.

Get the rest of the system right

A licensed music service will not help if the speakers are in the wrong place. See cafe sound systems and music zones explained, or find an audio technician to set it up.