While Pandora advertises itself as a kind of radio station, you will hear songs you like several times as the algorithm figures out how to relate your tastes through the Music Genome Project. Why will you face these fines? It is legal to play broadcast radio in your business, but that is because radio stations have a decades-long relationship with PROs and advertising to pay for specific kinds of licenses that cover accidental public broadcasting. If you play from a streaming service, you likely get music from multiple PROs, so you may face legal problems with several of these organizations. This means you could face a payment of $750 minimum or as much as $150,000 per violation.
If you are caught streaming music in your business that you did not pay a business license for, you will face a lawsuit from the PRO that manages that songs copyright. Legal Problems With Streaming Pandora in Your Business If you hear a popular song in a commercial, for example, the company that made the commercial paid to license that song for a certain amount of time while the commercial is broadcast. PROs collect money through public performance royalties to ensure that artists and rights holders receive appropriate payment for their work. The legal reason behind this has to do with performing rights organizations (PROs) and how they manage licenses for music.Ī PRO is an organization within the larger music industry, which manages licenses and royalties for music copyright holders publishers, composers, musicians, and other artists. Playing music stations like ones from Pandora without the proper license is illegal. (The Pandora for Business cost is $26.95 for a monthly subscription.) It does not matter if you pay a monthly subscription fee to avoid advertising through the streaming service the TOS do not allow you to use music outside of private or personal settings for commercial use.
This is true whether you have a free or premium Pandora account. This includes playing Pandora stations for restaurants through the service. You can privately listen to any Pandora station you create, but playing that Pandora retail music station in front of patrons at your business is illegal. Pandoras TOS are clear that using their service in a business, retail, restaurant, or other commercial establishment requires different licensing for the music, which Pandora says must happen through a separate service. We all agree to terms of service when we sign up for online services, but few of us read them in-depth. Terms of Soundtrack Service and Licensing More important than all of the issues above, playing music stations, like from Pandora, in a commercial or business setting breaks the law.
There may not be censoring of explicit lyrics or content in the songs, which could offend shoppers or employees.Although you can thumbs down songs you do not like or that do not fit, this may interrupt the flow of music.The free version of Pandora play an ad every few songs, so you will likely subject those around you to advertising.Pandora Streaming Is Not Optimized for BusinessĪlthough playing music through Pandora radio in your restaurant, storefront, or office may seem like a good solution to providing inspiration and soothing sounds to your patrons and employees, there are some reasons this may not be the best solution. However, there are several downsides to playing Pandora in a business, including potential legal problems. This approach to creating a musical list can also be appealing for business owners you can pick a genre you know your patrons will enjoy and let it play. This power allows you to control the kind of music you hear, so you know you will enjoy your station as you refine it more. After you have a station set up, you can refine the songs you hear by liking or disliking them in the service. When you sign up for Pandora business account, you are asked about your favorite songs or artists, and that information will generate a new station for you. The program gathered information about songs and musical preferences for more than 10 years, linking rhythm, mode, beat, genre, and lyrical preferences, so Pandora for Business app could recommend songs you may never have heard otherwise. The basic Pandora commercial service is powered by the Music Genome Project, which is considered the most powerful analysis of music undertaken so far. The Top 3 Alternate Services for Music for Your Business or Commercial Setting.Legal Problems With Streaming Pandora in Your Business.Terms of Soundtrack Service and Licensing.Pandora Streaming Is Not Optimized for Business.Streaming Pandora in My Business or Commercial Setting.