Can I play Spotify or Apple Music in my business?

No. Consumer streaming subscriptions are licensed for personal, non-commercial listening, and their terms exclude playing music to customers. You need a commercial background music service or direct licences from the performing rights organizations.

What is a PRO and do I need one?

A performing rights organization — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR — licenses the public performance of the songs in its catalog. If you license music directly you may need agreements with several of them. A commercial background music service handles the performance rights for the music it supplies.

What does streaming music for business cost?

It is a monthly subscription priced per audio zone rather than per location. A zone is one independent area with its own music and schedule, so a single-room store counts as one and a restaurant with a dining room, bar and patio counts as three. Tell us how many zones you sound and we'll quote it.

Can I use it for background music in retail stores and restaurants?

Yes. Retail, restaurants, cafes, hotels, gyms, salons, clinics and offices are all programmed differently, with tempo and genre matched to the room and the hour.

How do we manage hundreds of locations?

One dashboard controls the whole estate. Head office sets the programme and schedule; store staff play, pause and skip within permissions from a phone or tablet.

Do we need new speakers?

No. The music streams from a phone, tablet or computer into the sound systems your locations already have.

United States

Business background music
for US venues

Araya Sound supplies streaming music for business that is licensed for commercial use — curated in-store music, dayparting, multi-site control and the speaker system it plays through.

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In-store background music playing in a US shopping mall

Subscription per audio zone

In short

What is streaming music for business — and why can't you just use Spotify?

Streaming music for business is a commercial service that supplies curated background music cleared for playing to customers. In the US, playing music in a business is a public performance, and the rights are administered by performing rights organizations including ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR. Consumer subscriptions such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube are licensed for personal use only, so they don't cover a store, restaurant or gym. A commercial background music service handles the performance rights as part of the subscription, so you get one bill and no separate paperwork per venue.

Local know-how

What shapes the sound in United States

Good programming is local. Audience mix, trading hours and the calendar all change what the right playlist looks like.

Dayparting drives the numbers

Morning commuters, lunchtime rush and evening browsers respond to different tempos. Energy mapped across the day beats one playlist looping from open to close.

Built for multi-location brands

Franchise and chain operators need consistency across hundreds of sites with room for local variation. One dashboard, one programme, enforced everywhere.

Seasonal retail calendar

Back-to-school, Black Friday and the holiday season each get their own programme, scheduled ahead so nobody on the floor has to think about it.

Performance rights, handled

ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR each license different catalogs. A commercial service covers the performance side so you aren't negotiating four agreements per location.

Licensing & the law

In the US, playing music in a venue is a public performance

US copyright law gives rights holders the exclusive right to perform their work publicly, and playing recorded music in a business counts. Those rights are licensed through performing rights organizations — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR — which is why businesses that use consumer streaming apps can end up contacted directly. A commercial background music subscription covers the performance rights for the music it supplies.

Every song carries two rights — the recording and the composition
Consumer streaming accounts never cover business use
Multiple PROs license different catalogs, so partial cover leaves gaps
Keep written confirmation of coverage on file, per location

Read our full guide to music licensing — or check the source at U.S. Copyright Office.

Cleared for business use

Every playlist Araya supplies is cleared for commercial background use in your venues. Curation, commercially cleared supply, scheduling and support sit with one accountable partner.

Get a quote for licensed music

The service

What Araya provides in United States

One partner for the whole sound of your business — from the playlist strategy to the last ceiling speaker.

Brand-matched playlists
Curated background music designed around your brand, refreshed regularly so regulars never hear the same loop.
Dayparting and scheduling
Different energy by time of day, day of week and season, scheduled automatically per zone.
Multi-site control
One dashboard for a single venue or a national estate. Staff play from a phone or iPad; head office keeps the reins.
In-store radio & messaging
Your own branded station with promotions, announcements and sponsored spots mixed into the music.
No new equipment needed
Music streams from a phone, tablet or computer into the sound system your venue already runs.
One accountable partner
Curation, licensed supply, scheduling and support handled by the same team, with a single point of contact.

Coverage

Programming for brands across the United States

Playlists and multi-site management delivered remotely to any US location, with rollout support for national estates.

New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Houston
Miami
Dallas
Atlanta
San Francisco
Seattle
Boston

Industries

Music for every kind of venue

Explore how we programme background music for your industry.

See all industries we serve

Brands we sound-design for

Questions

United States background music FAQs

Elsewhere

Other markets we cover

Get a licensed music quote for United States

Tell us about your venues and we will come back with a curated, commercially cleared programme and a quote.

Business name

Business type

Country

Phone / WhatsApp

+971

Number of locations

What do you need?

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Business background music
for US venues

What is streaming music for business — and why can't you just use Spotify?