Music is played across retail, hospitality and leisure businesses to create a desired atmosphere, entertain customers, promote products, and much more. But what a lot of businesses don’t realise is that they must obtain the necessary music licenses to do so legally.
Compulsory Music Licenses for UK Businesses
In the UK, businesses are required to obtain licenses from both PRS for Music and PPL to play music in a business. This is the same for both retail and hospitality venues - who are ultimately gaining from the music by providing a better experience for customers - and for venues that don’t generally receive visits from customers, such as office environments.
A PRS for Music license is required to ensure that the creators of the music you’re playing - songwriters, composers and publishers - receive the appropriate payment for their work. Similarly, a PPL license ensures that the organisation knows to collect and distribute money for the use of music on the behalf of the performers and record companies - securing the payments they deserve for their hard work!
The cost of these licenses varies depending on factors such as the type of venue and its capacity. To find out more and get a better idea of the cost for your sector, visit the PRS for Music and PPL websites.
Consumer Music Platforms
Once you have your PRS for Music and PPL licenses in place, you are free to play radio, CDs and live music at your venue all day long! What you must still consider, however, is that music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora are only legal for consumer use - not for businesses. These platforms do not cover the mechanical rights that allow someone to create and distribute copies of the music.
In addition to the quality and technical advantages obtained, this is one reason why many businesses turn to a professional background music provider like Startle for their solution.
Professional Background Music Providers
With a professional background music subscription to a service such as Startle Music, the mechanical (copying) rights will be included. These protect the rights of songwriters, composers and publishers for the reproduction of their music, whether as a physical product, for broadcast or for online use.
A subscription of this type is a safe and simple way to not only guarantee you are legally complying, but to benefit from better quality, more function, data capture and marketing opportunities over the equivalent consumer services.
In order to secure a high-quality, legal music system for your business, do your research and decide on what it is you want to achieve with your background music - this will help you to find the right solution for your brand!
Thanks to Startle for this article.