What kind of licence do I need to play music in a commercial establishment?

You need a Public Performance Licence to legally play music in a business setting. This covers the right to play music for public enjoyment, which includes background music, live performances, and radio or TV broadcasts. However, your music licence does not cover each royalty payment to the copyright holder, it only covers your legal requirement to play music in a commercial setting.

• U.S and Canada - Vellar Sound’s customers in the U.S. and Canada, our partner Soundtrack Your Brand licences all necessary music rights, including the public performance right for most areas. 
• U.K - While you historically had to obtain separate PPL and PRS licences, you can now do this with just one: TheMusicLicense, making it so much easier
• Outside of these countries, each country has its own Performing Rights Organisation (PRO). Vellar Sound can help you facilitate these conversations or you can locate your country’s PRO and contact details here. (link: https://help.soundtrackyourbrand.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033407611-List-of-local-PRO-s)

Can I play music from my Spotify or Apple Music account?

The short answer is ‘no’. As each streaming service is for personal use, hooking up your phone to your venue’s aux cable to play music directly from your streaming service to play music in a commercial space or business, you’re in violation of the T&Cs you agreed to when registering for an account with Apple / Spotify / YouTube etc. 

With Vellar Sound, our SYB partnership ensures every track you play is licensed and legally compliant. 

What could happen if I play music from my personal account in a commercial space?

Penalties for violating copyright and neighbouring rights laws vary by country, as copyright falls under civil law, which is highly localised. Typically, businesses caught playing music illegally face two types of fines. First, they’ll be required to pay double the amount of what a legal licence would cost. Or they could receive a court-issued fine, which can range from hundreds to millions, depending on the business size, duration of infringement, and any intentional illegal actions.

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