Can I play this in my business?
What are you playing, and where?
Question 1 of 2
What do you play?
Streaming here means a personal account — the kind you would have at home.
Question 2 of 2
Where is your venue?
Covers these 12 countries only.
The answer
Spotify on a personal account fails both gates — one is a contract, one is a licence.
- The provider’s own terms
- Blocked
- Public performance in United Kingdom
- Licence required
Music that is meant for venues
Why? See both gates
Two gates, and you have to get through both
One is a contract with whoever supplies the music. One is a licence from the collecting societies in your country. Getting past one does nothing for the other, which is why most venues only ever fix half of it.
The provider’s own terms
Blocked
Not permitted by the provider
Spotify is a personal listening service. Business playback needs a separate commercial setup rather than a personal subscription. Buying a music licence does not change this — only Spotify can, by selling you a commercial product.
Read Spotify’s own terms — do not take our word for it.
Public performance in United Kingdom
Licence required
TheMusicLicence still applies
Playing this where customers can hear is a public performance, so TheMusicLicence applies on top of whatever you pay for the music itself.
Music playing where your customers can hear it
Both shut, and for different reasons. Paying the licence opens the second one and leaves the first exactly as it is.
About this tool
Two separate questions: the provider’s own terms, and your country’s collecting societies. You can fail either one.
Twelve countries · free · nothing to sign up for
There are two separate questions, and almost every guide answers only one. Whether the provider’s own terms allow venue playback, and whether your country’s collecting societies still need paying. You can fail either one on its own. Twelve countries, free, nothing to sign up for.
Common questions.
Can I play Spotify in my business?
Not on a personal account. Spotify is a personal listening service and its terms restrict use to personal, non-commercial listening. Separately, playing music where customers can hear it is a public performance, which your local collecting society licenses. Those are two different problems: buying a music licence does not fix the account terms, and switching account type does not remove the licence.
If I buy TheMusicLicence, can I then use Spotify?
No. TheMusicLicence covers the public performance of music that PPL and PRS represent. It does not change Spotify’s own contract with you, which is between you and Spotify. Only Spotify can permit commercial use, by selling you a product intended for it.
Can I play the radio in my business?
There is no personal-account restriction on radio — it is free to receive. But the music it carries is still being performed in public when customers can hear it, so a licence normally applies. In most countries a radio in a workplace where the public can hear is exactly what the societies license.
What makes Sonosfera different?
It is sold for business playback, so business use is what the subscription is for, and the catalogue is rights-controlled rather than registered with the collecting societies. That scope covers Sonosfera playback only — if you also run radio, TV, mainstream playlists or live performers anywhere on the premises, those still need covering.
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Music that is meant for venues.
Sonosfera is sold for business playback, so business use is what the subscription is for.
Free for 14 days, no card needed
General information, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the provider’s own terms or your society’s guidance — both are linked so you can check. Already had a letter? The letter decoder covers what to do next.