Public performance is licensed
Restaurants, bars, shops, gyms, offices and hotels normally need a permit or licence for music audible to customers, and unlicensed use can be fined with back-dated fees.
For cafés, bars, shops and hotels
Music licensing for venues, explained
In most countries, playing music where the public can hear it is a licensed activity — whether the source is radio, a streaming service or a personal playlist. This page explains the options in plain language. It is not legal advice.
Why a venue needs a licence at all
When music is played where the public can hear it, the rights holders expect to be paid for that use. Collecting societies exist to collect and distribute those payments, and they license premises rather than individual listeners. That is why the licence requirement applies to the café, the shop or the gym — not to the person who pressed play.
Practical consequences:
- The requirement applies to the source of the music, not the device. Radio, a streaming app, a CD or a USB stick all need the venue to be covered.
- Tariffs usually scale with floor area, venue type (bar versus restaurant versus shop) and whether there is live music or dancing.
- Catching unlicensed use can mean fines plus back-dated fees, which is why the paperwork matters more than the technology.
The three realistic options
1. Radio in the venue, with a permit
Radio is the traditional background-music choice, and many venues hold a collecting-society permit for exactly that. Some broadcasters also sell commercial or business licences that include the necessary rights. Whoever the source is, the venue needs the permit before the music starts.
2. A business streaming tier
Spotify and comparable services offer commercial tiers. They are convenient and come with curated playlists, but the price reflects the licensing they include, and they come with rules: no personal accounts, sometimes explicit public-performance reporting, and restrictions on how the music may be used.
3. Royalty-free sources
Royalty-free libraries and stations exist precisely so that a venue can play music without collecting-society payments for that repertoire. “Royalty-free” is not the same as “no rules”: attribution, redistribution limits and context restrictions are common, and a station that tags itself royalty-free may still broadcast licensed music or ads alongside its own catalogue.
The Venue Hi-Fi (B2B) edition is built around this third model: royalty-free stations, royalty-free search, Jamendo royalty-free tracks (when a Jamendo client ID is configured) and your own local files.
How to stay out of trouble
- Decide what you are playing — radio, business streaming or a documented royalty-free catalogue.
- Get the licence that matches: a collecting-society permit or a business tier for the first two, a documented royalty-free licence for the third.
- Keep proof: licence texts, invoices, the exact source and the period it covers.
- Verify every source before commercial use — do not rely on a station’s self-reported tag alone.
- Re-check when things change: new genres, live sports, an increase in floor area or a terrace can all change the tariff.
Where the numbers come in
Licence costs vary enormously by country, floor area and venue type, so the useful question is not “how much does music cost” but “how much would each option cost for this venue”. The ROI calculator compares regular radio, a business streaming tier and royalty-free music for the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, using country-specific tariff assumptions — and it states clearly that the figures are estimates.
Not legal advice
This page explains how the models differ so you can ask the right questions. It is not legal advice, and it does not grant any rights. Licence terms and tariffs change; confirm the current rules with the collecting society in your country — Buma/Stemra in the Netherlands, SABAM and PlayRight in Belgium, GEMA in Germany, or the equivalent body elsewhere — before you put music on in a business.
At a glance
Collecting societies differ per country
Buma/Stemra in the Netherlands, SABAM and PlayRight in Belgium, GEMA in Germany — tariffs usually depend on floor area, venue type and how the music is used.
Streaming services do not remove the duty
A personal music subscription does not cover commercial playback; business tiers exist for exactly that reason and add their own licence terms.
Royalty-free is a licence, not an absence of one
Royalty-free sources come with their own conditions — attribution, no resale, restrictions on certain uses. You still have to keep proof that you were allowed to play each source.
Radio in a venue is possible, if licensed
Some broadcasters offer commercial or business licences; otherwise treat radio in a venue as licensed public performance and arrange the permit before you switch it on.
Music licensing for venues, explained — questions
Do I need a licence to play the radio in my café? +
Yes, in most countries. Radio music is licensed for public performance, and playing it where customers can hear it normally requires a permit from the local collecting society, regardless of the device you use. Check the rules for your country and venue type before you rely on it.
Does a Spotify or Apple Music subscription cover my shop? +
A consumer subscription is licensed for personal listening, not for public performance. Both companies sell separate business tiers for commercial premises, and those tiers come with their own conditions and reporting requirements. See our ROI calculator for how the costs compare. Compare the options in the ROI calculator.
Is royalty-free music really free to play in my venue? +
Royalty-free means you do not pay per play or per performance to a collecting society for that music, but the licence still has terms: attribution, no resale, no use in certain contexts, and sometimes a per-project restriction. Keep the licence text and proof for every track or station you use.
Which countries do you cover? +
The ROI calculator covers the Netherlands (Buma/Stemra), Belgium (SABAM and PlayRight) and Germany (GEMA), because those are the markets this project was built around. The principles apply more broadly; always check your own country's collecting society.
Is the consumer player suitable for a business? +
No. The consumer edition is for personal listening. Businesses should look at the Venue Hi-Fi edition, which is built around royalty-free sources and local files, and still verify each source's licence. Neither edition grants you any music rights. Open the Venue Hi-Fi (B2B) edition.