Guide

Can you play Spotify in your business?

So you’re listening to Spotify at home and hear a playlist that your customers might like. What’s the harm in playing it in your business?

It’s against the law
It hurts the musicians
It’s bad for business

Well, there is one way that you can legally play Spotify playlists in your business. But first, let’s see why playing Spotify in your business doesn’t make sense.

Posted on March 1, 2022

3 minutes read

Is it really illegal?

Is playing Spotify for your customers against the law or just against the contract terms and conditions of the streaming service? It’s actually both. You’re not only breaching the terms and conditions of Spotify and all other major personal streaming services, you’re also violating copyright laws like the US Copyright Act, Canada’s Copyright Act, and the EU Copyright Directive.

In fact, all but three countries in the world have copyright laws that govern how music can be used in private and business settings.

Personal streaming is for recreation, but you’re playing music in your business primarily to make money. That’s why the copyright laws require different licenses.

It's not possible to use Spotify in public places (such as bars, restaurants, stores, schools, etc.). You may only make personal, non-commercial, entertainment use of the content.

Spotify

What happens if you’re caught?

Massive fines. Big companies, like Peloton, have been sued for many millions of dollars for playing music without the right licenses, and small businesses, like local bars, stores, and restaurants, for hundreds of thousands. It can be devastating no matter who you are.

How does it hurt the artists?

Album sales are in a tailspin. So, musicians and songwriters rely on streaming income, especially commercial streaming, to be able to make a living and keep making music.

Musicians and songwriters earn more – up to ten times more – when their songs are streamed in a commercial environment. This is a big part of why commercial licenses, and commercial music services, cost more than personal streaming services.

If you don’t use a commercial streaming service, the music you love will start to disappear.

You need a music service designed for business

Schedule music in advance

Personal streaming services don’t let you schedule playlists. But you need to know that the right music is playing for the time of day, day of the week, and more. You and your employees have better things to do than constantly worry about the music.

Control everything from anywhere

You need to be able to see and control what’s playing whether you’re on site, across town, or in another city. You don’t want employees playing whatever they want from their phones – they tend to play music at a higher energy level than you want, and the music that’s best for your brand and customers probably isn’t whatever an employee is listening to at the moment.

Empower staff... intelligently

Staff must be able to respond to the changing traffic levels within your business. They should be able to adjust the volume or pick from a set of approved, on-brand playlists. A good commercial music service lets you set the permission levels that make sense for you.

Keep the wrong music out

Finally, you need to be able to block individual songs from ever playing again if they don’t go over well with customers, and to have a reliable filter for explicit lyrics.

Essentially, you want a service that’s designed for business needs and to skip the frustration that comes with using the wrong tool for the job.

But, there is one way to legally, ethically, and easily play Spotify playlists in your business

Soundtrack Your Brand customers can drag playlists directly from Spotify into Soundtrack. And Soundtrack’s 58-million-strong catalog (by far the most of any commercial service) means that the large majority of songs will transfer over. They’re instantly legal for your business, with the songs playing in the same order. It couldn’t be easier.

And if you want to search for specific songs and create your own playlists like you do in Spotify, or play any song exactly when you want to, you can do that too – only with Soundtrack.

Try Soundtrack free for 14 days.

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