Playing music in your business in Ireland: licences explained

A streaming account is not a business licence

Paying for a streaming app, a video service, or CDs and downloads gives you access to music for your own listening. It does not give you permission to play it to customers. The terms of the large consumer streaming services limit use to personal, non-commercial purposes, so a household account used to fill a café, salon or shop with music falls outside what you signed up to.

The same goes for music you have bought outright. Owning a CD or a file means you own a copy; it does not include the right to play that music in public. Under Irish law, playing a copy of a work in public is one of the acts that only the copyright owner may carry out or authorise, so once music is played in a café, restaurant, pub, shop, hotel lobby or gym, permission is needed.

Radio and television are no different. Most broadcasts contain copyright music, and the broadcaster's own licence covers broadcasting; it does not extend to you playing that output to people on your premises. The television licence you pay to the State does not cover playing music to the public either.

What Irish law says

The relevant law is the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (CRRA), as amended, including by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019.

• Section 37 gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to copy a work and to make it available to the public, and to authorise others to do so. Anyone who does either without the owner's licence, or authorises someone else to, infringes copyright.
• Section 40 explains that making a work available to the public includes performing, showing or playing a copy of it in public. Performance includes presenting a work by means of a sound recording or a broadcast, which is what happens when music plays through the speakers in a shop or restaurant.
• Section 38 contains a special rule for sound recordings. A business may play sound recordings in public as of right if it notifies each licensing body concerned, makes the payments due and supplies reasonable information; if the parties cannot agree on payment, the Controller of Intellectual Property decides. This is a right to a licence on payment, not a right to play recordings for free.
• A few narrow exceptions exist, for example for certain non-profit clubs with charitable, religious, educational or social welfare aims playing sound recordings (section 98). They do not fit commercial premises such as cafés, shops or gyms.

Most commercial music is licensed collectively, by licensing bodies acting for many rights holders at once. Under Chapter 17 of the Act, a licensing body must register with the Controller of Intellectual Property at the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland before it can operate. A business, or an organisation representing businesses, can refer a licensing scheme to the Controller, who can confirm or vary it as reasonable (sections 151 and 152).

The licensing bodies are also regulated by the European Union (Collective Rights Management) (Directive 2014/26/EU) Regulations 2016, for which the Controller is the competent authority. They require tariffs to be reasonable in relation to the economic value of the use, and the criteria behind them to be disclosed to users.

Two separate rights in most recorded music

A piece of recorded music usually carries two distinct sets of rights:

• The musical work and lyrics, which belong to the songwriters, composers and music publishers.
• The sound recording, which belongs to the record producer, usually a record label. The performers on the recording have a statutory right to equitable remuneration from the owner of the recording when it is played in public (section 208 of the Act), so they share in this income.

In Ireland these two rights are represented by two separate licensing bodies: one acting for songwriters, composers and publishers, and one acting for record producers, which also passes a share on to performers through a body that represents them. Each body sets its own tariffs.

For most businesses, however, the two licences have been combined since January 2016. A single joint licence is administered by the body representing songwriters, which also acts as agent for the recordings body. You sign one contract, receive one invoice and make one payment, but both rights are still being licensed and both tariffs apply. The joint licence covers the music in the repertoire each body controls.

Other licensing bodies are registered in Ireland too, mostly for different uses such as copying or film screenings. Copying music onto a device or system for use in your business involves the separate reproduction right; the joint licence terms leave this to the music supply service. If you are unsure which licences apply, ask the licensing body or your music provider to confirm in writing.

How the fee is worked out

There is no single price for playing music in a business. Each licensing body publishes tariffs for different kinds of premises, such as shops, hotels, restaurants and bars, events and dance studios, and the joint licence applies the relevant tariff from each. The main factors are:

• Type of business and how music is used. Background music is charged differently from featured music such as live bands, DJs or discos, usually charged per session or event.
• Size of the premises. Depending on the tariff, this may be the floor area open to the public in square metres (common for shops), the number of seats (common for restaurants and bars), the number of bedrooms (hotels), or the licensed capacity or attendance (events and featured entertainment).
• How the music is played. Radio or television alone can be charged at a different rate from a CD player or other music system, and screens or vehicles can be charged per unit.
• Separate areas and additional uses. Performances in separate rooms, or extra events, can add to the total.

Licences run for twelve months at a time and renew each year. The tariffs are adjusted every year in line with the Consumer Price Index, and you are expected to report changes in how you use music, such as a larger floor area or new live entertainment. Tariffs also commonly apply a higher rate or a surcharge where a business did not take out a licence before music was played, or before it was approached by the licensing body, and some add charges for late payment. For an accurate figure, ask for a written quote based on the actual details of your premises.

If music is played without permission

Playing music in public without the necessary licence infringes copyright. Under section 127 of the CRRA the copyright owner, or in practice the licensing body acting on its behalf, can bring a civil claim, and the court can grant the same relief as for any other property right:

• An injunction ordering the business to stop playing the rights holders' music. In one reported case, the Circuit Court granted an injunction stopping all music, live or recorded, at a pub whose licence had been revoked.
• Damages that the court considers just in all the circumstances, or an account of the profits made from the infringement.
• Aggravated or exemplary damages, which section 128 allows the court to award in addition to, or instead of, compensation for financial loss.

The Act also helps the rights holder prove its case. Under section 139, copyright is presumed to exist in a work, and the claimant is presumed to be its owner or exclusive licensee, unless the contrary is proved. Since the 2019 amendments, the District Court and the Circuit Court can also hear intellectual property claims, so smaller claims do not need to go to the High Court.

There is also a criminal offence. Under section 140(5), a person who causes a musical work to be performed in public, or a sound recording to be played in public, commits an offence where they knew or had reason to believe that copyright would be infringed. On summary conviction the court can impose a fine, imprisonment of up to twelve months, or both, with higher maximum penalties on conviction on indictment.

Finally, a licence only covers what it describes. A licence for background music does not automatically extend to live bands, DJs or events, and if a licence ends, further use of the music is unlicensed.

How a directly licensed catalogue works

Collective licensing is not the only route. Under section 37 of the CRRA, the question is whether you have the licence of the copyright owner. Where one company owns or controls both the musical works and the sound recordings in a catalogue, it can grant that permission directly, without a licensing body. This is usually called direct licensing. The joint licence described above, by contrast, covers only the music in the repertoire controlled by each licensing body.

A direct licence covers what its terms say it covers. Typically that means the tracks in the provider's catalogue, played through the provider's service, at the venues named in the licence, for as long as the subscription is active. It does not cover:

• radio or television switched on in the venue;
• live music, DJs or karaoke;
• your own playlists, a staff member's phone or another streaming service;
• commercial music used for classes, events or parties.

If any of these are also used on your premises, they need their own permission, which may mean a collective licence for that part of your music use. Which licences you need depends on everything that is played in the venue.

Keep your paperwork in order. Because the law presumes that copyright exists and that the claimant owns it until shown otherwise, your records are how you show where your music comes from. Hold on to the licence certificate for each venue, the provider's details, information identifying the catalogue (for example a track list or catalogue numbers) and the dates the service was in use.

How Mublic works

Mublic is a background music service for cafés, restaurants, shops, hotels and gyms. The catalogue was produced by Mublic and is not part of any licensing body's repertoire, and the licence to play it in your venue is included in the subscription.

• Music suited to your sector. Programmes are put together for each type of business, and the atmosphere changes through the day, from quieter mornings to busier evenings.
• Separate zones. Each area of a venue, such as the dining room, terrace or bar, can play its own programme independently.
• Keeps playing offline. Tracks are downloaded in advance, so music continues if the internet connection drops.
• A certificate for every venue. With a paid subscription, each venue receives a licence certificate that can be verified by QR code.
• In-store announcements. Short announcements, such as offers or closing times, can be scheduled between tracks.
• Free trial. You can try the service for 7 days without entering a card. The trial is for trying the service; the licence certificate is issued once a paid subscription starts.

The licence covers only the Mublic catalogue. Radio, television, live music or another music service playing in the venue falls outside it.

You can start a free trial, see the pricing, or set up your venue.