As buzz said, you must pay a fee to play music in your business. From
[Link: soundstr.com]:
The last thing any business owner wants is another bill.
It seems like the cost of operating a brick and mortar business gets more expensive by the day. But what if you receive an invoice in the mail for something you have been using (without payment) for years? That’s exactly what can happen if you see a letter from a performing rights organization.
Performing rights organizations (“PROs”) collect for the commercial use of music in businesses. A letter from these organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and Global Music Rights in the USA) might take you by surprise. But there are a few things that you need to know to make sure your business is using music in a legal way that avoids expensive fines. (And by expensive, we mean upwards of $150,000.)
Here are 5 things you need to know about the Performing Rights Industry and its affiliated organizations:
The first thing they list is that it's entirely legal for PROs to charge you. They later point out it's legal for them to fine you.
This is a business reality. No matter how you feel about it, when a person spends hours, days, weeks of their life learning to play; creating a group; writing music; otherwise forgoing the income of a "normal" job, they deserve to be paid when they make the music and they deserve to be paid when you take advantage of their hard work to create a mood for your business.
