Do I Need a Music License to Play Music in My Store?

Almost always, yes. Federal copyright law (17 USC § 106) gives composers exclusive public performance rights. Any business where music can be heard by customers — retail, restaurant, gym, salon, café — is "public performance" and requires either PRO licenses (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR), a licensed B2B service (Soundtrack, Mood, SiriusXM Business, Pandora for Business), or an exemption.

A Performing Rights Organization licenses the public performance of musical compositions on behalf of songwriters and publishers. The four U.S. PROs are ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR. Each covers a different (and partially overlapping) catalog. To play "everything" legally and directly, a business typically needs blanket licenses from all four.

No. Spotify's own terms state Spotify is "only for personal, non-commercial use" and explicitly prohibit playing it publicly from "bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc." Spotify shut down its B2B product in 2018 and now refers commercial users to Soundtrack. Using a personal Spotify account in your business violates Spotify's TOS and exposes you to copyright claims from PROs.

No. Apple Media Services Terms restrict use to "personal, noncommercial purposes." Apple discontinued Apple Music for Business in 2019; there is no consumer or business Apple Music tier that legally covers in-store play. YouTube and YouTube Music are also personal-use only and do not offer a commercial product.

If you're under 2,000 sq ft (retail) or 3,750 sq ft (F&B), the homestyle exemption lets you play AM/FM broadcast radio with no license — provided you stay within speaker/screen limits if you exceed those thresholds. SiriusXM and internet radio are murkier; SiriusXM requires a separate SiriusXM for Business subscription for commercial play.

ASCAP's published retail rate schedule starts at roughly $1/day — about $365–$402 per year — for a small store. Pricing scales with square footage, occupancy, whether you have live music, and whether you charge admission. ASCAP's general-business minimum has historically been ~$402/yr in 2026.

BMI's small-retail minimum is around $294/yr for a single location under 2,000 sq ft, scaling up to ~$2,500/yr for multi-location retail. Bars and restaurants pay roughly $378–$11,286/yr depending on size, music type, and frequency.

Neither publishes rate cards. Both negotiate directly. SESAC represents Adele, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Green Day. GMR (founded 2013 by Irving Azoff) represents Drake, Bruno Mars, the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Pharrell. Smaller catalogs but very high-demand artists — rates often run several hundred to over a thousand dollars per year per location.

For a single small retail or F&B location, expect roughly $1,200–$2,500/yr combined when negotiating directly with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR. Bundled commercial music services (Soundtrack, Mood, SiriusXM Business, Cloud Cover, Pandora for Business) typically deliver all four PROs plus the recording-side rights for ~$25–$60/mo per location.

Yes — the "homestyle exemption" in 17 USC § 110(5)(B). Retail under 2,000 gross sq ft (parking excluded) and food/drink under 3,750 sq ft can play broadcast radio/TV without a license. Larger spaces qualify only if they use ≤6 speakers total, ≤4 per room, ≤4 TVs (≤55" diagonal). The exemption covers only over-the-air radio/TV — never streaming, CDs, or owned files.

No. The homestyle exemption only covers retransmissions of broadcast radio and TV signals. Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Tidal, and Amazon Music are not broadcasts — they're on-demand digital services. Their TOS independently forbid commercial use, and PROs can still come after you.

You can — but it's narrow. As of January 1, 2026, sound recordings made in 1925 and earlier are in the U.S. public domain (Music Modernization Act timeline). Recordings 1926+ are still copyrighted. Compositions enter public domain separately and earlier; but a 2020 recording of an 1850 PD composition is still a copyrighted recording you can't freely play.

Yes — and at higher rates than passive background play. ASCAP and BMI both have specific fitness rate cards based on number of class participants and square footage. Group fitness classes (Zumba, HIIT, spin) are categorized as the music being central to the service, which prices higher than lobby/locker-room background.

Yes. Salons, barbershops, and spas are explicitly listed in Spotify's prohibited-use language and in PRO retail rate schedules. Background music for atmosphere is still public performance. Most salons end up using a bundled commercial service for $25–$45/mo.

PROs typically send investigator visits and warning letters first, then escalate to federal copyright suits. Statutory damages run $750–$30,000 per song, up to $150,000 per song for willful infringement, plus attorneys' fees (17 USC §§ 504, 505). ASCAP filed 13 such suits in March 2024 and 24 more in February 2025.

No. Each PRO represents different songwriters with no overlap on publishing splits. You need a license from every PRO whose songs you play. Most popular playlists mix all four catalogs, so most businesses end up licensing all four — or use a B2B service that bundles them. The Cincinnati bar Pirate's Den paid BMI but got sued by ASCAP for $90,000 over a Michael Jackson song.

The venue is responsible. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR all license the establishment, not the performer. Hiring a cover band that plays Top 40 obligates the bar — not the band — to hold PRO licenses.

Karaoke is public performance and is licensed. The karaoke vendor's license usually covers the karaoke recordings (a separate Karaoke license through the labels), but the public performance of the underlying composition still requires PRO licenses held by the venue. The Fish Company in Providence was sued by ASCAP in 2024 over three karaoke songs.

"Royalty-free" means a one-time license fee with no per-play royalties owed by the buyer to the licensor — but most royalty-free tracks are still registered with a PRO, which means ASCAP or BMI can still bill the venue for public performance. "Owned outright" means the playing entity holds both composition and recording rights and the works are not registered with any PRO — no PRO obligation exists.

Three routes: (1) play only pre-1926 sound recordings that have entered the public domain; (2) use a B2B music service that bundles all PRO licenses for you (Soundtrack, Mood, SiriusXM Business, Pandora for Business); (3) play music whose rights you fully own or have licensed direct from the rights holder, where the works are not PRO-registered — this is the model Entuned uses, where no PRO has standing to bill you.