When you play recorded music in a public setting, either from a radio or from standard CDs that you own, you must have a BMI or ASCAP music performance license to do so.
You can avoid these licensing fees by playing royalty free music in your restaurant. However for this to be valid, you must play royalty free music and ONLY royalty free music. If you combine both, you would still have to pay BMI or ASCAP fees. The relationship you have with UniqueTracks when playing music in your restaurant is called a “direct license“. A direct license is a legal agreement between you and a music publisher which negotiates and pays all performance-related fees, usually up-front as a one-time payment, without using the royalty collection services of the performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC).
The most popular UniqueTracks sets for restaurant background music are Pianoscapes, the Classical Masters Series, and our Classic Christmas Carols CD.
