Apple has long played an important role in the digital music arena, with iconic products such as iTunes, iPods, and now Apple Music. Apple Music, which was started in 2015, provides music for personal use. This means that the music is licensed for use by individuals, not by businesses. Any music played in a business is considered a public performance—whether it be a restaurant, store, salon, or anything else—and as such, special licensing is required.
Performance rights agencies such as BMI and ASCAP represent musical artists and collect royalties from performances on their behalf. These agencies actually keep track of what music is played and in what situation in order to make sure that their artists are fairly compensated. This means that if you were to plug in your phone and broadcast playlists directly from Apple Music in your shop, you would be in violation of copyright law, and if the performance rights organizations learn about that violation, they could end up charging you thousands of dollars in fees. As such, it’s extremely important to make sure your music is properly licensed and you don’t make the mistake of playing music from your personal Apple account in your business locations.
The Truth About Apple Music for Business
With all this in mind, you may now be wondering if Apple Music for Business is a solution to this problem. After all, the fact that it’s “for business” is in the name itself. However, the truth of the matter is that Apple Music for Business cannot provide music for businesses because it no longer exists.
Apple Music for Business was launched in 2019 in partnership with a company called PlayNetwork. The purpose of this new company was to reach the business market by providing fully licensed music that could provide background music in business settings. However, the product launch was not particularly successful, so Apple soon decided to shelf the product entirely and focus on Apple Music for consumers only. After this brief partnership, PlayNetwork was eventually acquired by a separate music-for-business provider; that said, they are unlikely to be the best solution for your business music needs.
The SoundMachine Solution
Though Apple Music for Business is no longer available, there are other options. One particularly excellent option is a provider that will allow you to use your personal Apple Music playlists: SoundMachine. SoundMachine was founded in 2008, and since its inception, it has been dedicated to providing businesses with the best music experience possible. Because of this, it offers many useful and intuitive features that will make providing music in your businesses a worry-free and enjoyable task.
Some of these features include:
- 61 million licensed tracks and 500+ playlists and stations, making it the largest catalog of music on the market.
- The option to create custom stations in order to have more control of the music played and the option to choose from premade and carefully curated stations that match the mood you want.
- Import playlists from Apple Music, as well as from other platforms such as Spotify and Amazon Music. SoundMachine is one of only two music-for-business providers that offers this feature.
- Licensing with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR, which gives you access to more music including artists such as Bruno Mars, Adele, Bob Dylan, and more.
- Ability to create custom schedules ahead of time to specify when stations and playlists are played.
- An easy-to-use messaging system to advertise products at opportune moments.
- Compatibility with various audio systems such as Sonos, Control4, BluOS, RTI, and Crestron.
- The capability to manage multiple users and locations within one account.
- Plans starting from $26.95/month.
- A 30-day free trial.
Conclusion
Apple Music for Business may no longer be around, but other excellent music-for-business providers are. And with SoundMachine’s easy playlist integration, you can still use the music you’ve put together with Apple Music while playing it legally and having access to all the amazing features SoundMachine has to offer. So what are you waiting for? Start your free trial today!
