Music is a fundamental element for creating a pleasant and engaging atmosphere in any commercial setting, whether it’s a shop, a restaurant, a hotel, or a spa. However, it’s not enough to simply choose a playlist of popular songs and play it on repeat. In order to use music legally and professionally, it is necessary to obtain the appropriate licenses from copyright management organizations. This comes with a high cost and complex bureaucracy, which often discourages small and medium-sized business owners.
Fortunately, there is a more affordable and simpler alternative: fully-licensed music.
Music fully licensed, which does not require the payment of any additional fees to the collecting societies.
In this article, we will explore what fully-licensed music is, its advantages over mainstream music, and how to choose the service that best suits your needs.
The Complexities of Music Licensing.
Choosing the right music is only part of the equation. Copyright management is an equally important aspect.
While in the past it was sufficient to have a single licence from a performing rights organisation, this is no longer the case. There are several entities (called performing rights organisations, or ‘PROs’) representing the various rights holders and each of them has its own licence for the specific use.
Moreover, very often, business owners are unaware that the reproduction of copyright-protected music via platforms such as Spotify, YouTube or iTunes may entail serious legal risks. These services are designed for individual, not public use (read also this article to learn more about the use of Spotify).
How do you obtain licences?
The mechanism behind the licences issued by these companies starts from the fact thatthe artist and the eventual publisher entrust the management of their repertoire and thus the collection of royalties to these companies (PRO).
The same is done by record producers (i.e. record labels, if any)and performers , who may delegate related or neighbouring rights organisations (NROs).
These organisations, acting on behalf of rights holders, grant licences to business owners to enable them to legally play music in shops. Royalties are then collected by the same organisations and distributed among all rights holders according to reports on the music played.
If the reproduced music belongs to different right holders registered with different collecting societies, those who want to broadcast music in a commercial activity have to have more licences, face more obligations and thus more costs.
What is fully-licensed music?
Full-licensed music, also known as royalty free music or full-rights music, is a type of music that is produced and distributed by independent companies, which hold the exclusive rights and grant the use of the music to their customers for a fee: direct licences.
A direct licence is a licence that is granted by the author or rights holder of the works and recordings, without the involvement of collecting societies.
Unlike mainstream music (the ‘famous’ music you hear on all traditional radio stations) which is subject to the copyrights of the artists and record companies, fully-licensed music does not require the payment of any fees to the collecting societies.
Artists who are not associated with collecting societies may independently issue direct licenses for the use of their repertoire. As there are no intermediaries or other entities involved in the licensing, artists can obtain higher remuneration by not having to share with any intermediary, precisely through a direct license or ‘full license’.
This means that, once a licence is purchased, fully-licensed music can be used in any commercial environment, with no limits on time, place or number of listeners.
In addition, the fully-licensed music is of high quality and variety, catering for all tastes and needs of customers.
What are the advantages of fully-licensed music over mainstream music?
Choosing fully-licensed music for your business has many advantages, both economic and practical. Let us look at some of them:
- Savings: fully-licensed music is much cheaper than mainstream music, which requires the payment of several licences to collecting societies.. These costs vary depending on the type of business, surface area, number of speakers and number of listeners, and can amount to several thousand euros per year. With fully-licensed music, on the other hand, you only pay once for the licence, which is unlimited in duration and covers all legal aspects..
- Simplicity: fully-licensed music requires no authorisation from collecting societies
- International validity, allowing large retail groups to manage their entire network of outlets worldwide with a single contract. Simply purchase the licence online and play the music in your retail environment, without having to worry about controls, penalties.
- Quality: fully-licensed music is not synonymous with bad or anonymous music. On the contrary, it is music of high quality and variety, produced by professional artists and selected by music and marketing experts.
Why choose Moosbox as your fully-licensed music service?
Moosbox is the rights-based music service for you if you are looking for an affordable, simple and quality alternative to mainstream music. Moosbox offers you:
- A direct licence, which allows you to use fully-licensed music legally and without restriction, without having to pay any fees to the collecting societies The direct licence is always available and searchable online, in case of any checks.
- A comprehensive and up-to-date catalogue of fully-licensed music, covering all genres and music trends, and tailored to your needs and preferences.
- Online streaming, which allows you to listen to music online, without having to download or synchronise files.
- Many ways to listen (web access, desktop and mobile apps, Sonos devices with native extension, Raspberry, decoder, etc.)
- Constant and qualified assistance and support to help you solve any problems or doubts you may have about music.
In conclusion, fully licensed music can transform your business, enhancing the customer experience and strengthening your brand. With Moosbox, you can enjoy all these benefits without the hassle of licences and royalties. We are here to make your sound experience extraordinary.
