We have summarised all the important questions about music licensing and fees here to make it all crystal clear.
No, if your music is reaching the ears of people within a business premise it is under the requirement of a license agreement.However, if you use a service like GetMusicAt, we take care of the licensing part for you as well as providing you with great music – so that you can focus on your customers.
Either you use a solution like GetMusicAt where we handle this for you, or you need to get a license on your own. Depending on the country you reside in there are different organizations that handle this. Let’s look at a few here: The major PROs (Performers’ Rights Organizations) in the United States are ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), and GMR (Global Music Rights). Canada has SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada). Licensing rights in the United Kingdom are controlled by PPL PRS Ltd., a joint venture of the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society and the Performing Right Society. In Australia, the go-to organizations are the Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA). In Sweden there is STIM and Sami that charges businesses based on the size of the venues.
GetMusicAt offers a cost-effective, completely legal alternative to obtaining a music license for your business. A typical channel or playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, or Pandora will mix in popular artists like Beyonce, Elton John, Taylor Swift, Beck, Justin Timberlake, etc. PPL licenses for all of this popular music can be very expensive. GetMusicAt functions in a similar way to Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Pandora, but with one important distinction— you don’t have to worry about fees to legal rights organizations since all of our artists are unsigned and therefore aren’t connected to these organizations. Of course we make sure all artists get paid, not by legal rights organizations but directly from us. That’s why you won’t hear Beyonce or Queen on a GetMusicAt playlist. You will find R&B channels and classic rock channels, along with country music, Latin, EDM, dance pop … whatever you could want. The low cost of a GetMusicAt membership authorizes you to stream that music in your café, restaurant, or other business establishment open to the public.
Playing music without a license is in fact not legal and the consequences can be grave. Music licensing fees and costs pale by comparison. Fines for playing a song in a restaurant, café, store, or other B2C establishment without a PPL range from $750 to $150,000. Per song played. It’s not an empty threat. BMI and ASCAP file between 400 and 500 lawsuits per year against establishments that fail to obtain music licenses for business.
Through GetMusicAt you pay a flat fee of 19 euro a month for unlimited music. If you go the other route through a PPL (Public Performers License). As you can imagine, a restaurant music license for business can be considerably more expensive than a Spotify or Apple Music membership. Most establishments who go this route obtain blanket PPLs from every applicable PRO, just to cover their bases. Annual restaurant music licensing from BMI, ASCAP, and GML can set you back in excess of $2,000.
You can play music from artists that are not connected to a Performers’ Rights Organization. You can also use GetMusicAt’s service that takes care of all this for you 🙂
Yes, even office workers.
The short answer is “no.” To understand why, it helps to remember that music is considered a form of intellectual property. The right to play that property, including when and where you play it, is governed by a legal instrument known as a “license.” Any time a piece of music gets played, the rules set forth in its license apply. Music licensing fees and costs depend on how you intend to use the music, especially when it comes to a music license for business. A café, restaurant, salon, or other store is a profit-generating enterprise. Background music plays a theoretical role in the profit that business generates. Think of it this way—suppose you stream Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville” in your restaurant, and it puts a guest in a good enough mood to order a second round of margaritas. Jimmy Buffet just helped make you money, but you didn’t pay him for it. To legally enjoy that “Margaritaville” windfall, you would need to purchase a “Public Performance License” (PPL), a kind of “business-to-business” (B2B) license. Music licenses for business ensure that the artist gets compensated for the use of their work in a for-profit enterprise. This applies to salon music licensing, café music licensing … all across the board. However, if you don’t want to worry about licensing you can use a service like GetMusicAt instead, where we take care of all this for you – at a significantly cheaper price, as well.
You will find R&B channels and classic rock channels, along with country music, Latin, EDM, dance pop … whatever you could want. We currently have a wide variety of different playlists that are optimized by our experienced music designers to create the perfect mood.
Any kind of business really where a license would be required. An office space, restaurant, café, gym, hair salon or spa, for instance.
You only pay 19 euro a month for unlimited music, that’s it. If you have multiple locations you will pay 18 euro a month per location.
No it´s not - the total cost for all companies registered in Sweden with a swedish VAT-number is 199 SEK or 179 SEK a month plus VAT.
No. We cover this for you, since we have agreements in place for all our artists already you do not need to worry about paying a license fee.