Do Car Dealerships Need Music Licenses?
Yes. Car dealerships generally need music licenses to publicly play copyrighted music in showrooms, customer lounges, service areas, and other business spaces. A licensed music for business service can cover the music it provides. Other music sources inside the dealership may need to be checked separately.
And dealerships can get complicated fast. The showroom might have a professionally managed background music system. Meanwhile, the service department has Spotify running on an employee’s phone, and a TV is playing in the waiting room.
Then Saturday rolls around. The technicians have a radio going in the shop, and there is a DJ outside for a sales event.
From the dealership’s perspective, that may all feel like “the music.” From a licensing perspective, those can be completely different situations.
So the most useful place to start is simple: where is music playing, and where is it coming from?
Where Does Car Dealership Music Licensing Apply?
When a dealership publicly plays copyrighted music, it needs the appropriate rights for that use. Most of the time, a car dealership is not one room with one speaker. A typical dealership has several different spaces. There may be a showroom, sales desks, customer lounge, service waiting area, technician area, TVs, outdoor sales space, and multiple audio zones.
The showroom is the obvious example. Customers hear music while looking at vehicles and talking with salespeople.
The service waiting room is another. Someone may be waiting an hour for an oil change, and the music becomes part of the customer experience the dealership provides.
Does Music in a Service Bay Need Licensing?
It depends on how the space is used and who can hear the music. If customers in the waiting room, showroom, or other public-facing areas can hear music coming from the service bay, treat it as business music and make sure it is properly licensed.
If the technician area is completely separated from customers and only employees can hear it, the situation is less straightforward. We see businesses treat employee-only work areas differently from their customer-facing music, but a closed door does not automatically create a copyright or Spotify exemption.
Our practical advice is simple: if customers can hear it, license it.
What Are ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR?
ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR are performing rights organizations, often called PROs. They represent songwriters, composers, and publishers and license public performances of the music in their repertoires.
The important part for a dealership is that they do not all represent the same music.
| Performing Rights Organization | Artists & Songwriters You May Recognize | Music Delivered by Custom Channels |
|---|---|---|
| ASCAP | Olivia Rodrigo, Mariah Carey, Selena Gomez | Included |
| BMI | Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Benson Boone | Included |
| SESAC | Ariana Grande, Adele, Jack Harlow, Kesha | Included |
| GMR | Drake, Bruno Mars, Bruce Springsteen, Post Malone | Included |
These are just recognizable examples, not complete or exclusive artist lists. Performing rights organizations represent songwriters, publishers, and individual musical works, so one artist’s catalog can involve more than one PRO.
These are four major performing rights organizations that businesses in the US commonly encounter.
Does an ASCAP License for a Car Dealership Cover Every Song?
No. An ASCAP license covers works represented by ASCAP. BMI represents a different repertoire. SESAC and GMR maintain their own catalogs as well.
Popular music can also get complicated behind the scenes. One song may involve several writers and publishers. That is why direct dealership music licensing can become a lot of work for a business that simply wants a good soundtrack in the showroom.
A dealership should not need somebody in the accounting office checking publishing rights every time a new song gets added to a playlist. Licensed music for business services are designed to simplify the process.
Can a Car Dealership Play Spotify?
Spotify explicitly states that its service is for personal, non-commercial use. It cannot be used as a car dealership’s background music service.
Dealerships often have several different audio systems running at the same time. That creates a problem: any one of those systems can end up getting switched to a phone or tablet. And by human nature, when someone wants different music, Spotify is often the first thing they open.
That is one reason a dedicated music-for-business audio player is so valuable. Instead of relying on an employee’s phone or a device someone can easily swap out, the approved music source stays connected directly to the audio system. The dealership keeps control of the music, the licensing stays tied to the approved platform, and employees are less likely to replace it with a personal playlist.
For a dealership with multiple zones, that kind of consistency matters just as much as the playlist itself.
Already Have a Spotify Playlist Your Dealership Likes?
Custom Channels lets you import Spotify playlists, match the available songs in our catalog, and then allows you to continue building the playlist inside our dashboard, where all the music is licensed for business use.
The Spotify playlist is a perfect starting point. Custom Channels becomes the licensed business music platform that actually delivers the music.
If you need a deeper dive into consumer app streaming versus commercial services, see our guide to music apps licensed for business.
Can a Dealership Play the Radio?
Yes, sometimes. Federal copyright law includes an exemption that can allow businesses to play ordinary radio broadcasts without purchasing separate music licenses, but the exemption depends on the size of the business and how the audio is being distributed.
For larger businesses such as many car dealerships, the number of speakers and the way the radio is played throughout the building can determine whether the exemption applies. So the answer is not simply: “It’s the radio, so we’re automatically covered.”
A radio playing through a few speakers in one area may qualify for the exemption. Radio distributed throughout a large showroom, service department, waiting area, and outdoor space may not.
If your dealership plans to rely on the radio exemption, confirm that your specific setup qualifies. A performing rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI, or an attorney familiar with music licensing, can help you determine whether your use falls under the federal exemption.
Are Dealership TVs Covered by a Business Music Service?
No. A business music service only covers the music it delivers. It does not automatically cover audio coming from an unrelated television, cable service, streaming platform, or video.
TVs have their own rules. Federal copyright law includes an exemption for certain television broadcasts in businesses, but whether it applies depends on factors such as the size of the business, the number and size of the TVs, the number of speakers, and how the content is being shown.
That means an unmuted TV in a dealership is not automatically illegal, but a normal consumer TV or streaming subscription also should not be assumed to cover every type of public business use.
The easiest way to think about it is by source. Radio, television, Spotify, a business music service, a DJ, and a dealership-created video can all have different licensing rules.
If you are unsure about a TV setup, check the terms of your commercial TV or streaming provider and contact the appropriate rights organization or a copyright attorney before assuming the use is covered.
Can One Music Service Cover Multiple Areas of a Dealership?
Yes. A music for business service can manage multiple audio zones across the same dealership.
That is one of the biggest advantages of using a business music platform. A dealership might have music playing in the showroom, service lounge, sales area, and technician area, with each space needing something different.
With Custom Channels, those zones can all be managed from one dashboard. You can see what is playing in each area, change playlists, schedule different music by time of day, and give each zone its own sound without employees having to manage the music manually.
Custom Channels also charges a reduced rate for additional zones. Instead of purchasing another full Custom Channels subscription for every area, each additional zone is $15 per month across all plans.
See Custom Channels pricing and multi-zone options.
How Much Does a Music License for a Car Dealership Cost?
There is no single universal price. Direct licensing costs can vary based on the organization, how the music is used, the size of the business, the number of locations, whether live music is involved, and other factors.
For dealership operators, there are basically two approaches:
Direct Licensing
Direct licensing means the dealership handles the music licensing itself.
That means contacting the performing rights organizations whose music you want to play, providing information about the business, such as square footage, capacity, and locations, and then paying the applicable licensing fees.
The requirements and pricing can vary by licensing organization. The dealership is also responsible for keeping those licenses current and managing renewals. And after all of that, the dealership still needs an actual source for the music.
Licensed Business Music Provider
The alternative is to use a licensed music for business service. With this approach, the music and the public performance rights for music delivered through that service are bundled together.
Instead of managing multiple licensing relationships separately, the dealership gets one music platform. For many dealerships, this can be much simpler and more cost-effective than licensing music directly.
What Should You Do If ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR Contacts Your Dealership?
First, do not ignore it. Start by figuring out what music is actually being played and how.
- What music source is being used?
- Where is the music playing?
- Is it coming from an approved music for business service?
- Are employees using Spotify, radio, TVs, or other sources outside that system?
- Is the issue limited to one location or happening across multiple dealerships?
If you use a licensed music for business provider, contact that company first. Ask them to confirm your account is active and provide documentation showing what music and licensing are covered through their service.
If you are not using a licensed business music service, respond to the organization that contacted you and start figuring out what licensing your dealership needs. We recommend addressing it as soon as possible rather than continuing to play music and hoping the issue goes away.
We have separate guides that go deeper into what these notices mean and what to do next:
- What Is Global Music Rights and Why Is GMR Contacting Your Business?
- What to Do If You Receive an ASCAP Licensing Letter
The Simplest Rule: Make Sure the Music Source Is Licensed
To tie all of this together, if a recognizable song is playing in the showroom, service lounge, sales area, or another part of the business, ask one simple question: Is the source playing that music licensed for business use?
That is really what dealership music licensing comes down to. It is not just about the song. It is about where the music is coming from and whether that source has the rights to play it in a business environment.
A licensed music for business service puts the music, commercial rights, playlist management, zones, and multi-location control in one place.
For more, explore licensed music for car dealerships or talk with our team about how music is currently being handled across your dealership or dealer group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Car Dealerships Need a Music License?
Yes. If a dealership is publicly playing copyrighted music in a showroom, service lounge, sales floor, or other business space, it needs the appropriate music licensing.
Do Dealerships Need ASCAP and BMI?
Yes, if the music being played includes songs represented by ASCAP and BMI. They represent different catalogs, so having coverage from only one can leave out a large amount of popular music.
Does a Dealership Need SESAC or GMR?
Yes, if the dealership plays music represented by SESAC or GMR. Each organization represents its own catalog of songs, so the dealership needs appropriate coverage for the music it actually plays.
Can a Car Dealership Play Spotify?
No. Spotify is licensed for personal, non-commercial use. A personal Spotify account does not give a dealership the rights needed to use Spotify as background music in a business.
Written by Mark Willett, Director of Music Strategy, Custom Channels
