Music Licensing for Business in France
Playing music in a business is a little different from listening to music at home. Since you're playing for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you will need a license from SACEM.
Music Licenses in France
Businesses need three different rights to legally play music in their physical venue.
Recording Rights
Recording Rights
This covers the right to use a specific recording of a song.
Publishing Rights
Publishing Rights
This covers the right to use the original composition.
Public Performance Rights
Public Performance Rights
This allows you to play the song in a public environment.
In France, public performance licenses are obtained through companies such as SACEM (who also manages background music licenses on behalf of SPRE). It is vital that you obtain the correct rights to use music in your business.
For information on music licensing in another country, please click here.
The Value of Soundtrack
We offer a licensed music service for commercial use, with great features such as scheduling tools and an explicit filter.
Soundtrack Your Brand is able to provide this via direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organizations and record labels (including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more).
Our technology allows royalties to be fairly and accurately distributed back to music creators. Our Unlimited tier provides royalty payments that are approximately 5 times higher than those from streaming services for private use.
Unsupported Services
Services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer are not suitable for use in business. These platforms are for personal, private use only - it is not legal to use them when playing music to an audience and you could risk being faced with a fine.
How to get fully licensed in France
1) Trial Soundtrack
Start our 14 day free trial to use our properly licensed business music service immediately. No payment or commitment required.
2) Get a Public Performance License
If you don't have a license from SACEM, please visit their website to get your license.
3) Subscribe to Soundtrack
Select a plan and add your payment details to officially join Soundtrack.
More Information about Music Licensing in France
Overview
There are different music licensing organizations to consider for those operating a business in France that plays music. These are SACEM and SPRE. Both work on behalf of music authors, composers and publishers to collect royalties throughout France and distribute these back to creators fairly.
Contact
History
Often referred to as SACEM, the Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique or the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers is a French organization that is owned by its members. Since 1851, SACEM has worked to protect and promote artistic creation. They consider themselves to be world leaders in this space and aim to maximise revenues for creators while also providing a high level of support.
In 1986 SPRE was created. Its full name is La Société pour la Perception de la Rémunération Equitable de la Communication au Public des Phonogrammes du Commerce, or The Society for the Perception of Fair Renumeration for the Communication of Commercial Phonograms to the Public.
How to get a license in France
When operating a business in France, you may need permission from companies like SACEM. SPRE fees are typically collected by SACEM.
You can reach out via each website respectively to find out more about the various tariffs and costs that are involved.