You open your business for the day, turn on the lights, and get ready to set the mood. For many owners, that means pressing play on a favorite Spotify playlist, the same one they enjoy at home or on the drive in. It feels easy and familiar.
The only problem? Spotify for Business doesn’t actually exist. Spotify isn’t licensed for business use.
Thousands of small businesses unknowingly stream personal music apps like Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music in public places, not realizing they’re violating copyright law. While it might seem harmless, it can lead to hefty fines for copyright infringement and inconsistent customer experiences. Beyond the legal risks, personal Spotify playlists often reflect one person’s taste, not the sound that fits your brand, your business environment, or your customers’ expectations.
That’s where professional music programming matters. At Custom Channels, our expert curators design brand-focused playlists, review each other’s work, and constantly refresh content to avoid bias and keep every sound on message. It’s not about what you like; it’s about what your customers feel.
Here’s why licensed music is the only legal alternative for a professional, consistent, and scalable business atmosphere and how Custom Channels makes it simple to legally play music across every location.
Why Spotify Isn’t Built for Business Use
Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music are built for one thing: personal music streaming. The moment you press play in a retail store, café, restaurant, or any other commercial setting, it becomes a public performance under music licensing laws.
Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR represent the artists, songwriters, and copyright holders behind the music you play. To use their work in a business environment, you need commercial licensing agreements that cover those rights. Personal streaming apps don’t include that coverage, which means no royalties are paid to the creators, and your business is technically using unlicensed music.
Spotify’s Terms of Service make this clear: it is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using it in your business skips paying artists and copyright holders and puts your brand at risk of legal action and hefty fines.
But the problem goes beyond legality.
Personal streaming platforms simply aren’t built to manage how music behaves in a professional or commercial environment. Playlists are either fixed in order or shuffled randomly. There is no control over how often an artist appears, no way to balance genres or energy, and no structure for music scheduling or dayparts, the different moods your business moves through across a day.
That is where Custom Channels takes a completely different approach.
Our system builds fresh, expertly curated playlists every day. If your library has 500 songs, you will hear them in a new order daily, never the same sequence twice. Behind the scenes, smart rules prevent things like hearing the same artist back to back, repeating songs at the same time tomorrow, or creating wildly inconsistent shifts in mood or tempo.
All of this matters because the music you play is part of your brand. Your customers might not notice the programming logic behind it, but they feel the difference: the energy, flow, and professionalism that separate a curated business music experience from a random playlist.
If you want to dig deeper into how licensing agreements work and why compliance matters, explore our full guide on music licensing for businesses.
The Licensed, Brand-Curated Music Alternative
As a business owner, you technically could pay each Performing Rights Organization (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR) directly, but it is a complex and time-consuming process. Each organization requires separate licensing agreements, and the rates depend on your business type, square footage, and even how many people are in your space. Managing that on your own can quickly become overwhelming for small businesses trying to stay compliant with licensing laws.
Custom Channels handles all of this for you. We maintain full commercial licensing agreements with every major PRO, which means you pay one price and we take care of the rest. You can legally play music from any artist and any song in our catalog, and we track every play on the back end so artists and copyright holders are paid fairly for their work. It is automatic, transparent, and built specifically for your business environment.
But compliance is only the foundation. What makes Custom Channels different is how we design your sound. Our expert music curators create brand-focused playlists that reflect your business personality and audience. We go far beyond standard radio edits, building our own clean versions of songs to remove suggestive or distracting lyrics. The result is a professional sound that fits your space, your customers, and your brand.
Everything we build is designed for commercial settings. There are no live versions of tracks, no jarring transitions, and no unexpected lyrics. Just consistently high-quality, on-brand, and fully licensed music that enhances your atmosphere every day.
We also integrate with your existing systems. Our platform connects with digital signage and CMS tools so you can sync your in-store visuals with your sound for a cohesive customer experience. And for businesses with multiple locations, you can manage music from one dashboard, keeping your brand consistent everywhere while still allowing flexibility for local customization.
If you want to see how simple and scalable this can be, check out our pricing options or download our quick checklist on licensed business music or book a short demo to see it in action.
Why Brand-Curated Music Builds a Stronger Customer Experience
Music does more than fill silence. It shapes how people feel, behave, and remember your brand.
Before modern music streaming, most businesses played CDs on repeat or relied on local radio, often filled with ads for competitors. In 2000, Custom Channels changed that. We were the first company to bring licensed music streaming to businesses, creating a way for brands to control their sound and connect with customers through music designed for their specific business environment.
Today, that expertise still drives everything we do. We have spent decades studying how music affects customer behavior across different industries. When people walk into a quiet business, they wonder if it is even open. When they walk into a space with the right music, they feel comfortable, engaged, and ready to stay. The right soundtrack can make a customer linger longer, spend more, and return more often.
In retail stores, expertly curated playlists can increase dwell time and guide purchasing behavior. In restaurants, music is as important as lighting or décor. It sets the tone for the entire experience. A playlist that fits your brand makes food taste better, service feel smoother, and memories stronger. We have seen consistent results: in recent studies, two of the top factors that influence whether customers return to a business are loyalty programs and music, and music accounts for nearly half of that decision.
The same holds true in healthcare, wellness, and hospitality. Calming, consistent sound helps people relax and builds trust. Every beat and lyric either adds to your atmosphere or takes away from it.
That is why control matters. If employees take over the music and stream personal Spotify playlists, the vibe changes immediately. A few off-brand songs or explicit lyrics can disrupt the entire customer experience. Custom Channels gives you full control with simple, professional tools. Our compact music player has no buttons, so there is no chance for accidental changes, and you can schedule playlists and manage music across every location from one dashboard. If you want to allow flexibility, you can give employees access to switch between pre-approved playlists that still match your brand standards.
The result is a consistent, professional sound that strengthens your brand and enhances every customer experience, from the moment they walk in until the moment they leave.
For more on how sound shapes the restaurant experience, explore our guide on how music can make or break the restaurant experience.
Scaling Music Across Multiple Locations
As soon as your business expands beyond one location, consistency becomes essential. You want every space to sound like your brand, whether it is across town or across the country.
Custom Channels gives you centralized control with the flexibility to adapt regionally. You can schedule playlists, create custom dayparts, and automate music scheduling for different times of day or customer flows. The system ensures that every location plays the right music at the right time, all while staying perfectly aligned with your brand identity and compliant with licensing laws.
Consumer music streaming apps simply cannot do this. Even if you shared the same playlist across multiple stores, Spotify or Amazon Music would not play those songs in the same order or at the same time. Shuffle mode guarantees variation, live versions or explicit tracks can slip in, and none of it is licensed music for a commercial setting. It might work for one location, but as soon as you scale, the experience falls apart and can expose your business to copyright infringement risks.
Custom Channels was built to solve that problem. Our platform manages every location from one dashboard, automatically syncing playlists and dayparts across time zones so that your lunch rush sounds like your lunch rush, whether you are in New York or Los Angeles. For growing small businesses or large franchises, that means your energy level and atmosphere stay consistent everywhere, no matter how many doors you have.
We also make control simple. Some businesses prefer a full top-down approach where only approved playlists are played. Others allow limited flexibility, letting employees switch between pre-selected, brand-focused playlists. Either way, the sound stays clean, consistent, and on-brand.
If you already have playlists you love, our Spotify converter tool lets you bring them with you. We can take your favorite personal Spotify playlists and rebuild them inside Custom Channels so they are fully licensed music and ready for commercial use. You keep the vibe you love but gain the control, compliance, and reliability your business needs.
The result is a scalable legal alternative to consumer apps that helps you manage music across multiple locations and maintain a unified brand experience everywhere customers walk through your doors.
Examples of Success in Key Industries
At Custom Channels, music goes far beyond sound. We work directly with our clients to design experiences that connect brand, audience, and emotion across every business environment, from national rollouts to once-in-a-lifetime activations.
Here are a few ways our partners have turned music into a true part of their brand story.
Restaurants and Hospitality: CAVA’s “Spice World” Rollout
In the fall of 2025, CAVA launched its “Spice World” campaign, introducing new spicy menu items and a bold new color palette. They wanted the energy of the campaign to carry through every detail of their restaurants, including the music. Our programming team collaborated with CAVA to build a special seasonal playlist that captured the theme: bright, bold, and flavorful. Guests could feel the brand as soon as they walked in. This activation proved that the right licensed music in a commercial setting can amplify a brand’s entire marketing message.
Grocery: Erewhon x André 3000 Album Launch
When Erewhon wanted to celebrate André 3000’s 2023 Blue Sun album, Custom Channels helped make it happen. We curated and powered a full in-store music streaming takeover featuring the artist’s new album, connecting a high-end grocery experience with cultural relevance and creativity. It was a perfect example of how we bridge artists and brands to create one-of-a-kind in-store moments, all through fully licensed music that supports copyright holders and aligns with business branding.
Retail: Aviator Nation x Grateful Dead Experience
For Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary celebration at Golden Gate Park in August 2025, Aviator Nation and Custom Channels joined forces to bring the music and vibe into the store. We built a three-day, fully branded in-store experience in their San Francisco retail stores that blended Grateful Dead’s legacy sound with Aviator Nation’s California aesthetic. The result was an immersive retail environment that fans and shoppers still talk about, powered entirely by expertly curated playlists and commercial licensing designed for the brand.
Healthcare and Wellness: AdventHealth’s Disney Mix
In healthcare, music can comfort and calm in ways words cannot. For AdventHealth’s children’s hospitals in Florida, we developed a dedicated Disney mix for pediatric waiting areas and lobbies. Familiar songs helped young patients feel safe, relaxed, and at home before or after procedures, replacing silence or generic waiting room music with a sound that truly cared for the listener. This project shows how licensed music in public places creates an environment of trust and professionalism.
Every one of these examples shows what happens when brands take ownership of their sound. Music becomes more than background; it becomes a key part of how people experience, remember, and connect with your brand.
For more inspiration, read Who’s in Charge of the Music That’s Playing? to see how leading brands are using sound as a strategic advantage.
Spotify for Business vs. Custom Channels
Below is a simple comparison between consumer music streaming apps and a licensed music solution like Custom Channels. This table highlights what separates Spotify for Business users from companies that choose a fully legal alternative built for professional, commercial use.
| Feature | Spotify / Amazon Music | Custom Channels |
| Licensing for Commercial Use | ❌ Personal use only | ✅ Fully licensed music for business (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR) |
| Legal Compliance | Risk of copyright infringement and hefty fines | Full commercial licensing agreements with Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) |
| Playlist Curation | User-generated Spotify playlists or algorithms | Expertly curated playlists that reflect your brand |
| Control Across Locations | Manual per device | Centralized control with local flexibility |
| Music Scheduling | Manual playlist switching | Automated music scheduling and daypart control |
| Integration Options | None | CMS and digital signage integration |
| Legal Alternative | ❌ Not compliant | ✅ Legal alternative for commercial settings |
Using Spotify or other personal streaming apps may seem simple, but it is not designed for a business environment. It lacks proper licensing agreements, operational control, and compliance features needed to legally play music in public places such as restaurants, retail stores, and offices.
By comparison, Custom Channels was built from the ground up for professional use, offering a seamless solution that combines licensed music, human curation, and total scalability across multiple locations.
When to Transition from Spotify
If you are still using Spotify or another consumer music streaming app in your business, you are not alone. Many small businesses start there because it feels simple, familiar, and affordable. But most never think about licensing laws or copyright holders until it becomes a problem.
So if you have made it this far, congratulations. You are already ahead of most businesses. Simply reading this means you care about doing things the right way for your customers, your brand, and the artists who make the music you love.
You will know it is time to upgrade when:
- You are expanding to multiple locations
- You want consistent sound and brand experience across every store
- You want to eliminate employee control or rogue playlists
- You care about legal compliance and protecting your reputation
- You are ready to elevate your customer experience and brand perception
The best time to make the change is now. We can convert your existing Spotify playlists into fully licensed music playlists immediately, so you can start to legally play music you already love in your business environment.
Spotify’s prices continue to increase year after year. Custom Channels has kept our rates the same since we started. We do not raise prices because our mission is different. We are not trying to squeeze another dollar from every subscription. We are here to provide real value and reliable service for businesses that care about their brand and their customers.
If you walk into your business and hear an employee playing their own unapproved Spotify playlist, that is your signal. It is time to take control of your sound, protect your brand, and ensure the music playing represents your business, not someone else’s taste.
Just like you would never overlook food safety, alcohol laws, or customer privacy, music licensing should not be a blind spot. It is a core part of running a professional, compliant, and successful commercial setting.
Make the Move From Spotify to Licensed, Brand-Curated Music for Your Business
Playing Spotify in your business might feel convenient, but it is not legal, scalable, or professional. Licensed music gives you everything consumer streaming apps cannot:
- Full legal compliance and royalty coverage under commercial licensing
- Expert human curation that fits your brand identity
- Centralized music scheduling and location management
- Consistent, high-quality sound that customers remember
Switching is simple. Our team handles onboarding, setup, and playlist migration with no downtime. We even have a Spotify converter that turns your favorite personal playlists into fully licensed business versions.
We know you have options, but no one takes the time and care that we do to educate, guide, and grow with you. We have helped thousands of small businesses sound their best for over two decades, and we would be honored to do the same for you.
If you are ready to explore the legal alternative, there are three ways to start:
- Book a 15-minute demo to see how multi-location music control works. (We will embed the HubSpot calendars)
- Start a free trial to test a curated playlist in your own space. (We will embed the free trial button)
- View our one-page comparison to understand licensing coverage, curation, and scalability versus consumer streaming services.
Custom Channels helps businesses sound as good as they look, legally, consistently, and at scale.
FAQs
Is it legal to use Spotify for business or commercial settings?
No. Spotify’s license is for personal use only. Playing it in a public place such as a restaurant, retail store, or café counts as a public performance, which requires a commercial licensing agreement. Using Spotify in a business environment without proper rights can result in copyright infringement, hefty fines, or cease-and-desist notices from performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or GMR.
What does “licensed music” actually mean for businesses?
Licensed music means your music provider has secured the necessary licensing agreements with performing rights organizations to pay royalties to copyright holders. This ensures your business meets all licensing laws and avoids the legal risks of playing unlicensed music. When you use Custom Channels, we handle all of this for you so you can legally play music in your commercial setting without worrying about compliance or paperwork.
How do I transition from Spotify to a licensed platform without disrupting my business?
Switching is simple. Custom Channels helps you migrate your Spotify playlists, set up the system, and start playing fully licensed music quickly, with complete onboarding support. We can even copy your playlists into our system so you can begin using them right away—all while being compliant with commercial licensing and licensing laws.
Can I keep my existing playlists if I switch from Spotify?
Yes. With our Spotify converter tool, you can bring over playlists you already love. We rebuild them inside Custom Channels so they are fully licensed music for commercial settings, maintaining the same sound and feel while ensuring you support the artists and copyright holders who make that music possible.
Do I have to pay ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or GMR separately if I use Custom Channels?
No. Custom Channels manages all licensing agreements and royalty reporting on your behalf. You pay one flat rate and we take care of everything behind the scenes, making us your complete legal alternative to personal music streaming platforms like Spotify or Amazon Music.
What makes Custom Channels different from other business music services?
We were the first company to bring streaming music to businesses in 2000. Our expert team of human curators designs brand-focused playlists that reflect your business identity, review each other’s work for freshness and quality, and create clean edits that go beyond standard radio versions. Everything we do is built for business environments and public places, not personal listening.
Is the music family-friendly or clean for all audiences?
Yes. Every track in our library is screened and edited to ensure it is appropriate for professional spaces. We even create custom edits of songs that may still contain suggestive lyrics in their radio versions, making our music safe for any commercial setting.
What if I have multiple locations?
Custom Channels gives you centralized control across all your locations, even in different time zones. You can automate music scheduling, create brand-focused playlists, and maintain consistent sound everywhere while allowing limited local flexibility if you choose. It is professional, scalable, and designed for small businesses and national brands alike.
