Music Licensing for Business in New Zealand
Playing music in a business is a little different from listening to music at home. Since you're playing for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you will need a licence from OneMusic.
Music Licences in New Zealand
Businesses need three different rights to legally play music in their physical venue.
This covers the right to use a specific recording of a song.
This covers the right to use the original composition.
This allows you to play the song in a public environment.
Soundtrack Your Brand covers the first two licences, and in New Zealand, public performance licences are obtained through OneMusic which is a collaboration between APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ.
For information on music licensing in another country, please click here.
The Value of Soundtrack
We offer a licensed music service for commercial use, with great features such as scheduling tools and an explicit filter.
Soundtrack Your Brand is able to provide this via direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organisations and record labels (including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more).
Our technology allows royalties to be fairly and accurately distributed back to music creators. Our Unlimited tier provides royalty payments that are approximately 5 times higher than those from streaming services for private use.
Unsupported Services
Services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer are not suitable for use in business. These platforms are for personal, private use only - it is not legal to use them when playing music to an audience and you could risk being faced with a fine.
Steps to become fully licensed in New Zealand
1) Trial Soundtrack
Start our 14 day free trial to use our properly licensed business music service immediately. No payment or commitment required.
2) Get a Public Performance Licence
Soundtrack customers must obtain a separate public performance right licensed from OneMusic, visit their website to get yours.
3) Subscribe to Soundtrack
Enjoy the world's best business music service while staying fully compliant. Select a plan and add your payment details to officially join Soundtrack.
More Information about Music Licensing in New Zealand
Overview
Businesses who play music, like cafés, bars and restaurants, shops, hairdressers, gyms, dance schools, offices, on hold music, and more, need permission (a licence) from the music creators.
The music licensing landscape in New Zealand is business friendly, as there is a blanket music licence available from OneMusic. OneMusic licence fees are distributed by APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ.
Contact
History
In 2013, APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ established OneMusic New Zealand to simplify music licensing for New Zealand businesses.
APRA AMCOS stands for Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), they represent Songwriters, Composers and Music Publishers. Recorded Music NZ represents Recording Artists and Record Labels.
How to get a licence in New Zealand
Using the OneMusic website, businesses can learn more about the licence that they need, including related costs and the company information that will need to be shared. Application forms can be downloaded and completed, but will need to be emailed to process and activate the licence.