1Why four licences exist
Each US performing rights organization licenses only the writers it represents. ASCAP cannot grant rights in a BMI writer's song, and neither can speak for SESAC or GMR. A mainstream playlist inevitably crosses all four catalogs, which is how a single business ends up holding four agreements to play one radio-style mix.
Minimum general licences in 2026 run to roughly $402 for ASCAP and $415 for BMI, about $817 before SESAC and GMR quote anything. Those are floors. Fees scale with square footage, occupancy, speaker count and whether music is a feature of the business, and first invoices frequently include back-dated periods.
2Option one: a bundled commercial service
Services such as Soundtrack Your Brand, Cloud Cover Music, SiriusXM Music for Business, Jukeboxy and SoundMachine negotiate blanket licences with the PROs and fold those fees into a monthly subscription. You get mainstream chart music, legally, on one bill.
Typical cost. Around $27 to $45 per location per month, so roughly $324 to $540 a year for a single site.
What you give up. Nothing on repertoire, which is the point. But the price scales per location, and it usually rises as the underlying PRO rates rise, because the provider is passing those through.
A bundled service covers music played through that service. Live bands, DJs, karaoke and a staff phone plugged into the amplifier are all outside it, and remain your responsibility.
3Option two: the broadcast exemption
Section 110(5)(B) lets some premises play music with no licence at all. It is free, and it is narrower than most owners believe.
- Restaurants and bars under 3,750 gross square feet, other businesses under 2,000, excluding parking. Larger premises must stay within six loudspeakers total and no more than four in any one room.
- Ordinary broadcast radio and television only. Not streaming, not internet radio, not CDs, not a playlist on a phone.
- No direct charge to hear it, and no retransmission beyond the premises.
It suits a small shop happy with a local FM station and nothing else. It breaks the moment anyone reaches for a phone, and you have no control over what the station plays or the adverts between records.
4Option three: a royalty-free catalog
Royalty-free here does not mean free of charge, and it does not mean unlicensed. It means the music was licensed directly from its rights holders, who never placed those works with a US PRO. No PRO represents the music, so no performing rights royalty accrues on it.
Typical cost. RadioB2B is $249 a year flat, which includes the catalog, the player, the scheduler and a Music License Certificate.
What you give up. Current chart hits by name. If your customers must hear this month's number one, this is the wrong option. If they need the right atmosphere, it is usually the cheapest and simplest one.
5Why royalty-free is lawful
The point that matters is repertoire. A PRO's authority is limited to the works its members have assigned to it. It has no general power to tax music, only to license what it represents.
RadioB2B's catalog is licensed through RadioPRO Ltd, a collective management organisation registered in the United Kingdom under sections 38 and 175 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, on the basis that rights are cleared at source. None of the works is registered with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, and RadioPRO Ltd holds no reciprocal agreement with any of them. There is therefore nothing in the stream for a US PRO to collect on.
This only holds for music that comes through the service. Play a mainstream radio station, a consumer streaming account, a live band or a customer's phone alongside it and you are back in PRO repertoire for that music. Whatever route you choose, choose one and stick to it.
6Side by side
| Route | Annual cost | Music included | Chart hits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four PRO licences | $817+ minimum | No | Yes, source it yourself | Venues with live music or DJs who need direct licences anyway |
| Bundled service | $324 to $540 | Yes | Yes | Brands whose customers expect recognisable current music |
| 110(5) exemption | $0 | No, broadcast only | Whatever the station plays | Small premises content with an FM radio and nothing else |
| Royalty-free catalog | $249 flat | Yes | No | Venues that want controlled atmosphere and no PRO exposure |
See what the PROs would charge you
Our calculator compares published PRO rate schedules for your venue type and floor area against a single RadioB2B licence, and the 14-day trial needs no card.
7Switching safely
Order matters. Do these in sequence and there is no window of exposure.
- Change the source first. Get the new service running on every zone, and remove every other music source, including staff phones and any consumer streaming account still connected to the system.
- Get your documentation. Download the certificate and keep a copy where staff can find it.
- Then end the PRO licences, in writing, following the notice period in each agreement. Keep the correspondence.
- Brief the team. Most re-exposure happens because a member of staff plugs in a phone on a quiet shift.
Never cancel first and switch later. The licence is what covers the period you were playing mainstream repertoire.
8Questions
If a rep visits, what do I show them?
Your Music License Certificate, which names your business and the locations it covers and carries a QR code linking to a live verification page. It states that the music you play through the service sits outside every US PRO repertoire.
Is this a loophole that might close?
It is not a loophole. It is the ordinary operation of copyright, which is that permission comes from whoever owns the work. Direct licensing has existed as long as collective licensing has.
What about the sound recording rights?
For ordinary background music in a physical venue, the invoices come from the composition side, which is what PROs license. Our catalog is cleared for both composition and recording through the same chain, so there is no separate label claim to settle.
Can I keep one PRO licence just in case?
You can, but if you have removed all mainstream music there is nothing for it to cover. Most businesses that switch drop all four once the source has changed.
Cost figures are indicative 2026 published minimums and typical market pricing, not quotations. Competitor names are used only to identify those services and imply no affiliation. General information, not legal advice. See our Terms of Use.