Music in your business is different to listening to music at home. The change in scenery means a change in the rights.
When you play or purchase music, the rights to use that music are for a domestic setting - at home, in your car, and at your private parties.
As soon as music is taken out of a domestic context and played in a business or other public setting, this is a considered a public performance under the Copyright Act (1994), and you require permission from the people that created the music you use. The act clearly establishes public performance rights, protecting the rights of music creators and enabling them to earn a living when their work is used. The Copyright Act also outlines the penalties for anyone in breach of the act. You can access the Copyright Act (1994) here.
OneMusic is a joint licensing initiative between APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ. Many music creators around the world earn an income by granting organisations, like ours, the right to collect and pay their royalties.
OneMusic simplifies the licensing process and allows music users to meet their copyright obligations to play our music in their business.
Find out more about why you need a licence and the authenticity of our rights from other industry and government bodies and New Zealand associations.
A public performance is the playing of music in a business, commercial environment, or any other non-domestic setting. In these settings, even if a performance is given for free, the audience is small or you are playing music to the members of a club or society, this does not exclude it from being a public performance under the Copyright Act (1994).
To be fair to the businesses that hold a OneMusic licence, and to the musicians who created and own the music being played, OneMusic runs a compliance programme. This involves visiting businesses to confirm whether they play our members’ music and if so, following up to ensure an appropriate licence is taken out. Our licensing team provides those using music with all the information they need and are happy to talk through any issues or questions. If a business using our members’ music simply refuses to hold the appropriate licence, legal proceedings are issued to reach a resolution.
We recommend that anyone with questions about music licensing should contact their own independent lawyer or other legal advisor. If you are looking for more general advice, most industry trade associations are aware of music licensing requirements for businesses and host information on their websites.
