Do I Need a Music License for My Events?
The answer is, yes. It’s the law, and it’s the right thing to do. We all expect to get paid for our work, whether we’re a planner, caterer, AV supplier or in hotel sales. The same goes for the people who create the music that we use to make our events more successful.
There are multiple copyrights and associated licenses in music:
- Public Performance: which is what we’re mainly dealing with at corporate events, i.e. for when a song is performed publicly. An event of up to 1,500 people can be covered for just a few hundred dollars, and you’re guaranteed to be given a license. Details on how to obtain these licenses are below.
- Synchronization (or ‘Sync’) & Master: A ‘Sync’ License is granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition (i.e. songwriters/publishers), allowing the licensee to synchronize music with some kind of visual media output (film, television shows, advertisements, video games, accompanying website music, movie trailers, corporate videos etc.) A Master License is obtained from the person who owns the actual recording (aka the master) which is usually the record company. If you want to use a recording of a song to go with your corporate video, you need both the Sync and Master licenses, and they can be very hard to get (plus the rights holders can refuse you, unlike with public performance licenses). They can also be very expensive – a Top 40 or classic song can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you want an affordable alternative for your corporate video, try agencies like Rumblefish that have music libraries you can choose from and will grant you sync and master licenses quickly.
- Mechanical: A mechanical license grants the rights to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical compositions (songs) on CDs, records, tapes, ringtones, permanent digital downloads, interactive streams. This is much less relevant to the corporate meetings and events world, but if you have questions, visit HFA.
But I’ve already paid for the music!
You may have bought a song on a CD, mp3 or via a streaming service like Spotify, however that only covers private use. It doesn’t cover the ‘public performance’ of the music at your event. ‘Public performance’ is defined as “outside the normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances” – e.g. a wedding is private, a corporate event is not.
As most of us don’t have Beyonce’s contact details, how do we pay the songwriters?
Performing Rights Organizations
The good news is that there are ‘Performing Rights Organizations’ (PROs) that collect royalties on behalf of the songwriters so that you don’t have to research every song you play at your welcome reception and gala dinner. Their solution is a blanket license from your country’s major PROs, allowing you to play pretty much any song ever written with the minimal administration on your end.
There are four PROs in the USA – BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and GMR. PROs for other countries include SOCAN in Canada, PRS in the UK, APRA in Australia, and the list goes on.
Here’s the global list of PROs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_rights_organisation
Who’s Responsible For The License?
NOTE: the following information still applies to virtual events held on digital platforms. In short, contact your local PROs with the details of your event to get the correct license and pricing.
The owner of the event is responsible for having the appropriate music licenses in place. So if it’s a Microsoft event, then Microsoft is responsible, not a third party planner, production company or AV supplier. However third parties can obtain licenses on behalf of the event owner.
A common misunderstanding is that the musicians, bands or DJs will have the appropriate licenses themselves. They won’t – in fact they can’t. The PROs role is to remunerate musicians, not charge them fees. Once again the onus is on the ‘owner’ of the event to obtain the licenses, i.e. the party who benefits from the music being played at their event.
What about venues? Venues are required to have music licenses for their own usage, e.g. elevator music, background lobby music and lounge performers. However, with the exception of SESAC in the USA, these licenses do not cover private events. So you’re still going to need an ASCAP and BMI license even if the venue you’ve hired has them in place for their own internal use.
Exceptions
There are some scenarios where you are exempt from needing a license, although they are few and far between. We can’t cover them all here unfortunately, and suggest you contact your local PRO with your particular circumstances. As an example, here are the exceptions as per copyright legislation in the USA:
- Instructors or students during face to face teaching activities of nonprofit educational institutions
- Performances of music in the course of religious services at a place of worship
- Performance by the public communication of a radio or television transmission by eating, drinking, or retail establishments of a certain size which use a limited number of speakers or televisions and if no charge is made to see or hear the transmission (See Section 110(5) of the Copyright Act as revised. See www.lcweb.loc.gov/copyright).
- Performances at charitable functions are exempt from license or royalty requirements only if the performances have no direct or indirect commercial advantage and if no one involved with the performance, including any of the events’ performers, organizers, or promoters, is paid, and there is no direct or indirect admission charge.
Which PRO should I get a license from?
Although countries other than the USA may have multiple PROs, they are generally linked and you’ll only need one license (e.g. PRS/PPL in the UK and APRA/AMCOS in Australia). These non-American PROs have reciprocal agreements with the four USA PROs, so songs written by American songwriters are still covered.
Things are more complicated in the US, as there are four PROs. To cut to the chase, you should make sure you have a license from all four if you’re intending to play more than a handful of songs at your event.
If your event requires very limited music, say for example you just need a few songs to play keynote speakers on and off the stage, then you could make sure all the songs were from the BMI repertoire (all the PROs have a searchable database on their websites), and so you’d only need to get the BMI license. But if you’ve got a welcome reception, a gala dinner, or general background music, then restricting the songs played by your DJ’s, band or AV team to one PRO is going to be very difficult and not worth the effort.
Most hit songs you hear on the radio today are written by two or more songwriters, and chances are one of them is signed to ASCAP, one to BMI, and another to GMR or SESAC. So the most efficient and cost-effective solution is to make sure all four licenses are in place. Then you (and your bands, DJs and AV team) can play any song you want.
How Much Do They Cost?
The Performing Rights Organizations realize that music usage varies from industry to industry, so they have different licenses for categories including ‘General Business Use’ and ‘Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows & Exhibits’. Rates are federally regulated for ASCAP and BMI (SESAC’s and GMR’s rates are not as they are for-profit organizations).
NOTE: the following information still applies to virtual events held on digital platforms. In short, contact your local PROs with the details of your event to get the correct license and pricing.
Internal Events:
If your events are for company employees only, whether on your premises or not, they can be covered by the annual business blanket license that BMI calls their ‘Business Multiple Use‘ license, and ASCAP and SESAC call their ‘Music In Business‘ license.
As a rough guide, annual costs for a company of less than 500 employees ranges from $200 to $400 per PRO. For a company of 5,000 employees, the PROs all charge around $2,500 each. But this covers a lot, including your big annual sales kick-off! Here’s what the BMI license covers:
- Live or recorded performances by bands or DJs at offsite or onsite company functions
- Company Training
- Audiovisual presentations
- Company fitness facilities
- Interactive software such as CD-ROM
- Teleconferencing at company locations
- Music-On-Hold
- Radios, tapes and CDs used to enhance company image and motivate, and increase employee productivity
Things start to get pretty complicated at this point though…the SESAC ‘Music In Business’ license is different from the others in that it also covers “social acquaintances or intra-corporate invitees”, along with “any exhibit booths, meeting or seminar rooms used by the licensee at conventions, trade shows, shareholder functions and the like,” i.e. the SESAC ‘Music In Business’ license covers certain ‘external events’. To be covered by BMI and ASCAP for these events that include non-employees, you need their ‘Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows & Exhibits’ as listed under ‘External Events’ below.
Here are the relevant links to the ‘workplace’ licensing agreements for BMI and ASCAP. For SESAC and GMR, you need to get in touch with them directly:
BMI: Business Multiple Use
ASCAP: Click on ‘Business – Music in the Workplace’
SESAC: Questionnaire
GMR: Contact
External Events:
If your event is attended by people from other other companies or members of the public, then you’ll need a ‘Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows & Exhibits’ license from BMI and ASCAP.
ASCAP’s minimum event fee is currently $128, and BMI’s is $160, so you’re looking at a minimum of around $288 for a one-off event. This may even cover all of your events for the entire year, but again, only the PROs can give you exact costs for your specific situation.
SESAC’s venue license actually covers private events, so if your venue already has a SESAC license you won’t need to get one. So check with your venue first to see if they have a SESAC license.
Here are links to the ‘Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows & Exhibits’ pages for BMI and ASCAP. For SESAC, you need to get in touch with them directly:
BMI: Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows, and Expositions
ASCAP: Click on ‘Conventions, Meetings and Tradeshows’
SESAC: Questionnaire
Navigating The Licensing Process
NOTE: the following information still applies to virtual events held on digital platforms. In short, contact your local PROs with the details of your event to get the correct license and pricing.
To recap – for those in the USA, our recommendation for anyone putting on events that aren’t just for employees, is to get the blanket ‘Meetings, Conventions, Trade Shows & Exhibits’ license from ASCAP and BMI, then check with your venue to see if they already have a SESAC license in place.
If your events are for employees only, then you might be better off getting the “Music In Business” licenses as listed under ‘Internal Events’ above.
For those outside the USA, you’ll need a blanket license from that country’s organization (e.g. SOCAN in Canada, GEMA in Germany, PRS in the UK etc.) All the international PROs have reciprocal agreements with each – which means that if you’re a US event organizer planning a conference in the UK, you only need a license from PRS. You can still play songs written by US songwriters, because PRS has reciprocal arrangements with BMI, ASCAP and SESAC.
BMI and ASCAP can’t legally refuse you a license. Via their website or the phone, set up an account and sign their blanket license. You’ll pay the minimum fee at the start of the year, then you’ll report on the actual number of events and attendees at the end of the year, and pay your annual dues less the minimum fee you paid at the start of the year.
In summary, the steps are:
- Contact the PROs to get an accurate estimate of the fees you’ll owe for the events you’re holding for the next year and beyond
- Set up a blanket license that covers all future events
- Report on the details of your events either at the end of the calendar year, or after each event in your PRO account
