Music licensing for a business comes down to two questions: what is playing, and which branch of US copyright law applies. Radio and TV broadcasts have a small-establishment exemption in Section 110(5) — with two square-footage tiers, speaker caps and a food-service distinction. Recorded and streamed music has no exemption at all: it clears through licensing organizations, as the hotel industry's own association documents.
Figures on this page were checked September 2026. Legal text is quoted from the statute as published by the Legal Information Institute; this page summarizes for planning purposes and your own case deserves the statute itself or a licensing professional.
The two lanes
Every music-licensing question a venue has resolves through the same first cut: what is playing? US copyright law treats the answer as two different lanes with two different rulebooks.
Broadcast lane. If the venue’s speakers are playing a radio station or a TV channel — content that arrived over the air, by cable or by satellite — Section 110(5) of the Copyright Act may exempt the venue from performance fees entirely, subject to square-footage tiers and loudspeaker caps. This is the lane with the famous numbers (2,000 and 3,750 square feet, six loudspeakers, four per room).
Recorded lane. If the venue is playing its own playlist, a streaming service, CDs, or any music it selected, the exemption does not reach it. That lane clears through licensing organizations — or through a business-music service whose fees bundle the licenses. Consumer streaming terms say the quiet part: Spotify’s user agreement licenses personal, non-commercial use, and a shop floor is not personal use.
A business can be in both lanes at once — a bar with TVs on the walls and a playlist between games runs each source under its own rules. The lanes never merge.
Section 110(5): both branches
The broadcast lane’s exemption structure is worth quoting precisely, because most licensing errors this series has seen live in its branches. Section 110(5) distinguishes two establishment categories — an "or" relation, not a spectrum:
- General establishments ("other than a food service or drinking establishment"): under 2,000 gross square feet of space (excluding customer parking), the radio-and-TV exemption applies without equipment limits. At 2,000 square feet or more, it survives only if the audio comes from six loudspeakers or fewer, with no more than four in any one room or adjoining outdoor space.
- Food-service or drinking establishments: the same structure at a 3,750-square-foot tier — under that line, no equipment limits; above it, the six-loudspeaker and four-per-room caps.
The category question comes before the numbers: a taproom is a drinking establishment even if it never serves a plate, so it tests against the 3,750 line; an office or a shop tests against 2,000. And the caps above the tier lines are where design meets law — a distributed ceiling with a dozen speakers ends the broadcast exemption for a large store regardless of anything else, which is why the retail playbook calls it the six-speaker trap.
Two boundary notes the statute makes explicit. The exemption covers the communication of broadcasts by FCC-licensed stations (with cable and satellite delivery qualifying for the TV case) — it is about receiving broadcasts, not playing files. And the tiers count "gross square feet" excluding customer parking, a phrase the statute spells out because patios and lots complicate the arithmetic.
The recorded-music lane
Outside the broadcast exemption, the recorded lane has one rule and three practical routes. The rule: playing recorded music for customers, clients or guests is a public performance, and the rights clear through performance rights organizations — each PRO representing a different slice of the repertoire. The hotel association’s page names them: "There are three well-established performance rights organizations (PROs), ASCAP, BMI and SESAC," alongside the association’s own ASCAP agreement for members and the caveat that "each member will need to make its own determination as to what music licenses are required on premises."
The routes venues actually use: direct PRO licenses (covering each organization whose works are played); a business-music service whose subscription bundles PRO licensing with legal programming; or, for background use in offices and similar spaces, carefully scoped arrangements that keep the music inside what the licenses cover. What no route includes is a consumer streaming account — the terms' own words make business play a violation, and the cheapest to avoid.
Clearance routes venues use
| Route | What it covers | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Direct PRO licenses | Each organization’s repertoire, per its own fee schedule | Venues that want full control of programming |
| Business-music service | Programming plus bundled licensing in one subscription | Single- and multi-zone venues that want one vendor |
| Industry association agreements | Member-rate licenses (the hotel association’s ASCAP agreement is the documented example) | Properties in a trade association |
| Broadcast + exemption | Radio/TV only, within the § 110(5) tiers and caps | Small venues that can live with broadcast content |
The per-venue licensing notes across this site’s playbooks are all applications of this page: the restaurant and café food-service branches, the retail six-speaker trap, the brewery drinks-establishment reading, the hotel PRO route. If one of those is your venue, its playbook has the branch in context; this page is the map.
Before opening week — and again whenever the format changes — ask the two questions in order: what is playing (broadcast or selected music), and which branch does the venue occupy (food service, drinking establishment, or general). The answers pick the rulebook. Everything else on this page is commentary on those two answers.
FAQ
Possibly not — US copyright law has a narrow exemption for radio and TV broadcasts. General establishments under 2,000 gross square feet (excluding parking) qualify without equipment limits; food-service and drinking establishments get a larger 3,750-square-foot tier. Above those lines the exemption survives only within a six-loudspeaker cap, no more than four per room. Verify your case against the statute.
That lane has no small-business exemption. Recorded and streamed music played for customers is a public performance requiring clearance through licensing organizations — consumer streaming services' terms cover personal use only, which is why business-music services and PRO licenses exist.
Commonly yes: each performance rights organization controls a different slice of the repertoire, so a business playing mainstream music typically needs coverage from each PRO whose works it plays — or a business-music service that bundles licensing with its programming. The hotel association's page names ASCAP, BMI and SESAC as the three established PROs.
No. Section 110(5) is about the communication of radio and TV broadcasts; a live performance in the room is a different right, and the songs performed clear through the same licensing organizations. The exemption's edges are precise — this page quotes the statute, but your own case deserves the statute itself or a licensing professional.
Where the music plays
This site's venue playbooks cover the hardware side zone by zone — restaurant, café, bar, gym and nine more — most with their own licensing notes in context.
- 17 U.S.C. § 110(5), as published by the Legal Information Institute: general-establishment branch ("other than a food service or drinking establishment," 2,000 sq ft tier) and food-service or drinking establishment branch (3,750 sq ft tier); six-loudspeaker / four-per-room caps above either line; communication of FCC-licensed radio/TV and cable/satellite deliveries; "or" relation of the two establishment categories. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/110, accessed 2026-09-23
- AHLA, Music Licensing: "There are three well-established performance rights organizations (PROs), ASCAP, BMI and SESAC."; AHLA member licensing agreement with ASCAP; "each member will need to make its own determination as to what music licenses are required on premises." ahla.com/music-licensing, accessed 2026-09-23
- Spotify End User Agreement (personal, non-commercial use). spotify.com/us/legal/, accessed 2026-09-23
- Venue playbooks on this site (restaurant, café, bar, hotel, retail, clinic, brewery) — per-venue licensing notes as published and independently checked, accessed 2026-09-23