Support & FAQ

• 91% of in-store customers are influenced by the right music while shopping.
• 70% of store managers see customers more relaxed, staying longer due to right music.
• 86% of customers say that the right music adds to atmosphere, and influences their purchase decisions.

Sources: University of Texas (USA), Radford University (USA), Gallup Organization (USA), Journal of Marketing (USA), Journal of Services Marketing (UK), PRS-PPL (UK), Entertainment Media Research (UK), SACEM (FR), IPSOS Media (FR), Mac Gill University (Canada), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden).

• 32% of sales increase due to the right in-store music
• 39% of sales increase in supermarkets due to the right slower music
• 50% of customers spend more time in a shop that plays the right music

Sources: University of Texas (USA), Radford University (USA), Gallup Organization (USA), Journal of Marketing (USA), Journal of Services Marketing (UK), PRS-PPL (UK), Entertainment Media Research (UK), SACEM (FR), IPSOS Media (FR), Mac Gill University (Canada), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden).

• 70% of customers prefer businesses which pay music
• 80% of customers say music has a positive effect on them
• 40% of customers choose where they eat and how often they go back based on the music played by the location

Sources: University of Texas (USA), Radford University (USA), Gallup Organization (USA), Journal of Marketing (USA), Journal of Services Marketing (UK), PRS-PPL (UK), Entertainment Media Research (UK), SACEM (FR), IPSOS Media (FR), Mac Gill University (Canada), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden).

• 74% of employees enjoy going to work more when the right music is being played
• 30% of employees are less likely to take time off sick when the right music is played in their workplaceSources: University of Texas (USA), Radford University (USA), Gallup Organization (USA), Journal of Marketing (USA), Journal of Services Marketing (UK), PRS-PPL (UK), Entertainment Media Research (UK), SACEM (FR), IPSOS Media (FR), Mac Gill University (Canada), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden).

If your business is located in the US, and you use Soundsuit, all the copyright fees and public performance rights are included in your Soundsuit subscription. You do not need to pay BMI-ASCAP fees nor SESAC fees on top.

If your business is located in the Canada, and you use Soundsuit, all the copyright fees and public performance rights are included in your Soundsuit subscription. You do not need to pay SOCAN fees nor Re:Sound fees on top.

There are a few exceptions, however. In both U.S. and Canada, if you play music in a business that does any of the following, you should contact the local collecting societies to subscribe an extra specific public performance license:

• Conducts physical activity to music, such as a dance studio or fitness class.
• Plays music from another source other than your Soundtrack product such as a DJ, karaoke, or live music.
• Charges an admission fee.

In EU and the rest of the world, you do need to pay a music license to your local Copyright Collecting Society (e.g. PRS-PPL in the UK, GEMA in Germany, SACEM in France, etc.). to broadcast background music in your business, even if you use and pay Soundsuit.

In EU and the rest of the world, you do need to pay for a license fee from your local Copright Collecting Society (e.g. PRS-PPL, GEMA, SACEM, AKM, SUISA, KONA, STIM, etc.) to play legally background music in your business, and this even if you use Soundsuit.

Businesses like cafés, restaurants or stores, when they pay fees to copyright collecting agencies such as PRS-PPL/GEMA/SACEM/etc., are authorised to play licensed music for a commercial purpose. The fee is proportional to the type and size of the establishment itself.

But paying these copyright fees makes you – as a business owner – comply only 50% with the law. To comply 100%, you also need to use a B2B music service which is specifically licensed for commercial use. Such as Soundsuit.

More information about this topic in this article.

Soundsuit is a B2B music service specifically licensed for commercial and public use (such as in restaurants, gyms, airports, etc.).

On the contrary, mainstream consumer music services like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Youtube Music, etc. are only licensed for private non-commercial individual use. This means that Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Youtube Music, Tidal, Napster, Pandora, etc. cannot be used in a public commercial location.

If you – as a business owner – use Soundsuit in your commercial location, you comply with the law.

Please find more detailed information in this article.

Soundsuit is a B2B music service specifically licensed for commercial use in businesses. This means that Soundsuit pay specific fees to the Copyright Collecting Societies (e.g. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, Re:Sound) that protect the financial interests of artists and music creators. Therefore Soundsuit is allowed to broadcast the music material of these artists to large audiences of people in businesses.

The fees that Soundsuit pay are logically high to make sure that the artists get a financial compensation proportional to the large audience who listen to their music work. By broadcasting in businesses (and not for private use at home like mainstream music services such as Spotify, Deezer and others), Soundsuit expose the music work of artists to a much larger number of people simultaneously. And artists need to be compensated proportionally.

By reversing high compensation to music creators, Soundsuit is therefore an extremely fair player of the global music industry which respects and supports artists, both financially and artistically.

Yes, theoretically you can.

But first of all, if you play any background music in your business, your first need to get a music license for that. Refer to the paragraph 1. above to learn more about this.

Then if you now own a music license, and you want to play MP3 files. You can do this legally, but 95% of owners do it wrong, and expose themselves to heavy fines.

Why?

Imagine than you bought MP3s (with your business account of course) on any consumer platforms like Amazon, iTunes, Telekom, Fnac, Virgin, etc. And you want to play these files as background music in your business. In fact, you cannot. This is illegal! Because the strict legislation in place tells the following:

MP3 music files you can buy on (B2C) platforms like Amazon, iTunes or Telekom, are only licensed for private use, e.g. at home or in your car. To be broadcasted to a larger audience like customers in a store or a restaurant, MP3 files do need to be licensed for commercial use. And consequently sold at a higher price, because a larger copyright amount will be payed back to the authors. The larger the audience listening to their music work, the higher the copyrights the artists get. This is absolutely logical and fair for the artists.

So if you want to buy MP3 files and build playlists yourself for your business, you need to buy these files from a B2B music platform, that sells „MP3 files licensed for commercial use“. These are the only MP3 files you are legally allowed to play in your business.

Additional note:

To buy MP3 files and build playlists manually is not a common practise among business owners. Owners prefer saving the effort and streaming directly music from B2B cloud platforms, that provides tailored playlists for their business needs (business type, target group, location, etc.). And the music is also already fully licensed for business use. Then owners get the right music for their customers, when investing no manual work nor time, and avoiding any back payments or fines.

Yes, theoritically you can.

But first of all, if you play any background music in your business, your first need to get a music license for that. Refer to the paragraph 1. above to learn more about this.

Then if you now own a music license, and you want to play CDs. You can do this legally, but 95% of owners do it wrong, and expose themselves to heavy fines.

Why?

Imagine than you bought CDs (with your business account of course) on any consumer platforms like Amazon, Virgin, Fnac, Mediamarkt, etc. And you want to use these CDs to play background music in your business. In fact, you cannot. This is illegal! Because the strict legislation in place tells the following:

CDs you can buy in consumer electronic stores or online (B2C) platforms like Amazon, are only licensed for private use, e.g. at home or in your car. To be broadcasted to a larger audience like customers in a store or a restaurant, CDs do need to be licensed for commercial use. And consequently sold at a higher price, because a larger copyright amount will be payed back to the authors. The larger the audience listening to their music work, the higher the copyrights the artists get. This is absolutely logical and fair for the artists.

So if you want to buy CDs to be played in your business, you need to buy them from a B2B music provider, that sells „CDs licensed for commercial use“. These are the only CDs you are legally allowed to play in your business.

Additional note:

To buy CDs is not any longer a common practise among business owners. Owners prefer saving the effort and streaming directly music from B2B cloud platforms, that provides tailored playlists for their business needs (business type, target group, location, etc.). And the music is also already fully licensed for business use. Then owners get the right music for their customers, when investing no manual work nor time, and avoiding any back payments or fines.

To be broadcasted to a larger audience like customers in a store or a restaurant, music does need to be licensed for commercial use. This music – licensed for commercial use – is sold at a higher price to B2B music providers like Soundsuit. The larger the audience listening to the music work of artists, the higher the copyrights the artists get. This is absolutely logical and fair for the artists. Consequently Soundsuit pays high copyright fees to artists to be allowed to broadcast their music to large audiences in businesses. These high copyright fees are reflected in the selling price of Soundsuit.

B2C music services like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Pandora, Napster, Apple Music and others are only licensed for private use, e.g. at home or in a car, by an individual person and his family. These mainstream music services pay copyright fees to artists limited to this private use, for an audience of 1 person. The fees are really low. This is why artists regularly and openly complain in the press about the unfair compensation themes ruled by Spotify and others. Because of these low compensation fees to artists, mainstream platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, Pandora and others are able to keep their subscription fee around $10 per month.

When you pay your Soundsuit B2B music subscription a higher price than a B2C music subscription, you in fact help compensating artists fairly for the larger audience to which their music work is played to. And you also pay for the advanced smart technologies that Soundsuit engineers developed to be able to get a perfectly tailored music atmosphere for your business, while enjoying an intelligent mood scheduling. Easy, legal, fair to artists, and smart – these are the benefits of using Soundsuit!

To add Soundsuit to your Sonos system, please refer to this article on Sonos website:
Add a music service to Sonos >

Or follow these simple steps:

iOS or Android:

1. Open the Sonos app.
2. From the Settings tab, tap Services.
3. Under Music & Content, tap Add a Service.
4. Tap the service you would like to add.
5. Tap Add to Sonos.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to add the music service account.

Mac or PC:

1. Open the Sonos app.
2. Under the Select a Music Source section, click on Add Music Services.
3. Click on the service you would like to add.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to add the music service account.

If you are unable to find the service you are looking for, see the Sonos article on missing music services.

If you would like to add multiple accounts for the same service, see the Sonos article on using multiple accounts for the same music service.

Soundsuit can be played wirelessly on all speakers that are compatible with the Chromecast-Audio Technologyby Google. Renowned and reliable brands like JBL, Onkyo, Raumfeld, Sony, Bang & Olufsen, NAD, Pioneer, Vizio, Philips, Grundig, Toshiba, etc. offer Chromecast compatible speakers.

Please visit the Google Chromecast homepage to discover the complete choice of brands and speakers that is offered to you.

Speakers with Chromecast built-in >

If you own an Internet Radio Receiver – with the functionality to add private radio URL to your pre-defined list of internet radios – you can use it to stream Soundsuit.

Contact Soundsuit by email (support@soundsuit.fm) and get within 48 hours a personalized (private) URL address for your Soundsuit account to enter in your receiver. From this private URL you will stream the Soundsuit music stream as you defined it on your web player play.soundsuit.fm/app/play in terms of settings (e.g. business type, customer target group, mood, etc.).

Reknown brands like Yamaha, Marantz, Onkyo,etc. offer semi-professional Internet Radio Receivers that could be use reliably used in a demanding business context (i.e. 10 hours a day or more, 6 days a week or more, 340 days a year or more).