How To Legally Play Music In Your Place Of Business

Running a business without music is like serving food without seasoning: it’s technically possible, but why would you? Music creates atmosphere, keeps customers comfortable, and can even influence how much they spend. But if you’re playing commercial music in your business, you’re probably breaking the law right now.

Why do We Use Music in Business Places?

Walk into any successful business and you’ll notice something immediately: they’re probably playing music. It’s not just random background noise either. Studies show that when supermarkets play slower music, shoppers spend 38% more time in the store and buy 29% more stuff. 

The same thing happens in restaurants, retail stores, and even offices. Music affects how people feel, how long they stay, and how much they’re willing to spend. It’s basically free marketing that works on a subconscious level.

Music sets expectations before customers even look at your products or services. A coffee shop streaming chill instrumental music tells people “This is a place to relax and work”. A fitness center playing high-energy tracks says “Get pumped and work out hard”. Your music choice becomes part of your brand identity.

Moreover, employees are more productive when there’s good music playing in the background. It helps mask distracting office sounds and releases dopamine, which literally makes people feel better about being at work. 

Most businesses end up choosing between streaming services, radio, or just staying quiet. Dead silence feels weird and uncomfortable to most people, like something’s missing. Radio can work, but you can’t control what comes on, and sometimes you get ads or songs that don’t fit your vibe.

Streaming gives you way more control over the experience, but most streaming services aren’t legally cleared for business use. More on that later, but it’s a real issue that can cost you money if you’re not careful.

Can I Play Copyrighted Commercial Music in my Business Place?

Short answer: not without the proper licensing, and definitely not the way most people think they can. Just because you pay for Spotify Premium or Apple Music doesn’t mean you can legally play those streaming services in your business. The same goes for turning on the radio: there are actually specific rules about when and how you can do that commercially.

Business Music Licensing Requirements

Business music licensing operates under completely different rules than personal use, and the requirements are actually strict:

• You need permission from multiple Performance Rights Organizations (PROs): ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR. 
• You need to fill out applications with each PRO where you provide details about your business: what type of business you run, your total square footage, how you plan to use the music, and whether you have radio, streaming, or other audio sources.
• Streaming services require separate licensing.

Radio has some exceptions, but they are limited:

• The space you’re using has to be smaller than 2,000 square feet.
• You can set up a maximum of six speakers, with no more than four in any single room.
• TVs are limited in size: nothing bigger than 55 inches.
• You can have up to four TVs total, but only one per room.
• You can’t charge admission fees for entry.
• The content has to come from regular broadcast sources like radio, TV, or satellite; streaming services aren’t allowed.

Most businesses don’t qualify for this exemption, especially due to the square footage limit.

PROs actively patrol businesses looking for unlicensed music use, and they’re getting more aggressive about enforcement. If they catch you playing music without proper licensing, the fines can be severe.

What is a Public Performance of Music?

The first way music becomes a “public performance” is pretty straightforward: if you play it “at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances are gathered”.

This means your restaurant, retail store, office, gym, or basically any business where customers can hear music counts as a public performance. It doesn’t matter if you’re just playing the radio in the background or streaming a quiet playlist; if people outside your family can hear it, it’s legally considered public.

The “substantial number of persons” part is pretty loose, too. Even a small coffee shop with just a few customers at a time would count as a public performance under this definition.

What are Performance Rights Organizations?

Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) exist to make sure songwriters and publishers actually get paid when businesses play their music publicly.

In the United States, four major PROs control most of the music you’d want to play in your business:

• ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). The oldest and largest PRO in the US, representing millions of music works. If you want to legally play popular music, you’ll probably need an ASCAP license.
• BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.). The other major nonprofit PRO that competes with ASCAP. Between these two organizations, they represent most mainstream music you’d hear on the radio or streaming services.
• SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers). Despite the name, it’s actually a US-based for-profit PRO that’s more selective about membership. They represent fewer artists but often have exclusive deals with big names.
• GMR (Global Music Rights). The newest player, founded in 2013 specifically to represent high-earning songwriters and publishers who felt underrepresented by the other PROs.

When you get a license from a PRO, you’re paying for permission to play all the music in their catalog publicly. The PRO then takes that money and distributes it to the songwriters and publishers whose music gets played.

PROs monitor music usage through various methods: they track radio airplay, use digital fingerprinting technology for streaming, and sometimes even send representatives to venues to document what music is being played. Based on this data, they calculate how much each songwriter should receive.

Do I Always Need a License to Play Background Music in My Business?

Almost always, yes. If you play music in your business where customers or employees can hear it, you’re creating what’s legally called a “public performance”, and that requires licensing. 

Even music played when customers are on hold with your business requires licensing. The same goes for music in elevators, waiting rooms, or any other area where the public might hear it. The law is pretty broad about what constitutes public performance.

What Music Can I Play Without a License?

There are actually several types of music you can legally play in your business without dealing with PRO licensing at all:

• public domain music (songs where the copyright has expired or been released);
• your own original music;
• Creative Commons licensed music;
• royalty-free music.

However, while you have options for playing music in your business without traditional PRO licensing, each category has its own limitations. Public domain music can sound dated, Creative Commons requires careful attention to licensing terms, and royalty-free music still costs money upfront.

Generate Royalty-free Music on Mubert

If dealing with PRO licensing and streaming service restrictions overwhelms you, you can generate completely original music tailored specifically for your business.

Mubert uses AI to create custom music tracks in real-time based on exactly what you need. You describe the vibe you want, specify how long the track should be, and within seconds, you have original music that’s automatically cleared for commercial use. The AI is trained on millions of samples made by real musicians, which is why the results feel natural instead of robotic or cookie-cutter. 

You also don’t need to stress about PRO fees, tricky streaming terms, or whether you’re allowed to play the tracks in a commercial space, as the licensing is already built in. That makes it very different from consumer platforms or radio, where the rules for business use are complicated and often expensive to navigate. With Mubert Render, you generate a track or choose from curated playlists with ready-made royalty-free music of different genres, and you’re immediately legally cleared to play it wherever you need.

Most tracks are ready within 30 seconds, and if you don’t love the first result, you can generate variations until you find something perfect. The music downloads as standard audio files that work with any sound system or video editing software.

AI Music Company

Mubert is a platform powered by music producers that helps creators and brands generate unlimited royalty-free music with the help of AI. Our mission is to empower and protect the creators. Our purpose is to democratize the Creator Economy.

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