The short answer is no. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music are consumer services, licensed for personal use only. The moment a song plays in a room open to the public, a different set of rules applies. In Canada those rules are administered by SOCAN, for songwriters and publishers, and Re:Sound, for artists and record labels, and both are now billed to businesses through Entandem. This is not a grey area: it is written in the terms of service you accepted when you signed up.
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Most coffee shop owners in Canada only find out about this when a licensing letter arrives. The clause has been in the Spotify contract from day one, and it is binding the moment the account is created.
The Spotify Terms of Use, accepted by every user at signup, state that the service is provided "for your personal, non-commercial use only". The same restriction appears in the Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music terms. It is the legal foundation of the consumer price: a personal subscription is priced as a personal licence, not as a licence to play music to the public.
A coffee shop is, by definition, open to the public. The music heard by customers ordering a latte, working on a laptop or waiting for takeout is a public performance of copyright works, and in Canada that right is protected by the Copyright Act. The Spotify subscription does not travel with the music into the room: it stays with the individual account holder, in private.
Paying for Premium does not change this. Premium removes ads and unlocks offline listening, but the licence remains personal. Nor does a low volume or a speaker at the back of the room: if customers can hear the music, it is a public performance.
Canada licenses public performance in two layers: one for the songs, one for the recordings. Both reach a coffee shop through Entandem.
SOCAN's background music tariff (15.A) is charged by floor area. SOCAN has proposed C$1.53 per square metre (minimum C$117.75 a year) for 2020–2024 and C$2.32 per m² (minimum C$177.99) for 2025–27. These proposals are still pending before the Copyright Board of Canada, and until it decides, the last approved tariff stays in force.
Re:Sound adds a second layer for the recordings, and both are collected on one Entandem invoice. For a small shop, café or salon, industry estimates put the total at a few hundred Canadian dollars a year. Restaurants, hotels and fitness studios have their own tariffs and pay more; live music and dancing are charged separately.
Figures checked against the Copyright Board of Canada filings on 23 September 2026; this is not a quote. Sources: Copyright Board of Canada, socan.com, resound.ca, entandemlicensing.com. Full breakdown: SOCAN and Re:Sound fees for a business in Canada.
The My Corporate Radio catalogue is produced in-house and sits outside the repertoires licensed by SOCAN and Re:Sound.
Every track broadcast on My Corporate Radio is produced in-house under the creative supervision of Emanuele Carocci, an Italian radio broadcaster with over twenty years on national radio. The catalogue is not part of the repertoires administered by SOCAN or Re:Sound.
Every customer receives written documentation of the subscription, issued in the business name, describing the catalogue and where it comes from. If you also play radio, TV, live music or other recorded music in the venue, those follow their own rules: check with Entandem what applies to you.
Curated stations, each designed for a specific mood and moment of the coffee shop day. Weekly updates, no ads, no interruptions.
Light, warm and positive. The right tempo for the morning rush, when customers want a lift before the day starts.
Subtle and instrumental, for the hours when customers work on laptops or stay for a second coffee.
Calm and ambient, for slow afternoons and rainy days when the room should slow down.
Jazz and lounge, for venues that turn into a wine bar or a quiet dinner spot after six.
Higher tempo and brighter dynamics for busy service and takeout counters.
Groove and rhythm for weekend brunches and special events, never cheesy.
The music on our stations is AI-crafted under human creative supervision, using professional tools. The creative direction — the mood of each station, the rotation, the weekly updates — is the work of a radio broadcaster with twenty years of experience. We state this openly on every provenance document.
No. Spotify Free, Premium, Family and Student are consumer subscriptions, restricted to personal, non-commercial use under the Spotify terms of service. A café open to the public is a commercial venue, so playing a personal account there breaches the Spotify contract, and the public performance of the music is a separate matter licensed in Canada by SOCAN and Re:Sound through Entandem.
SOCAN's background music tariff is charged by floor area: SOCAN has proposed C$1.53 per square metre (minimum C$117.75 a year) for 2020-2024 and C$2.32 per square metre (minimum C$177.99) for 2025-27, still pending before the Copyright Board of Canada. Re:Sound adds a second layer for the recordings, and both are billed on one Entandem invoice. For a small café, industry estimates put the total at a few hundred Canadian dollars a year; restaurants have their own tariffs and pay more.
The My Corporate Radio catalogue is produced in-house and is not part of the SOCAN or Re:Sound repertoires, and you receive documentation in your business name describing where it comes from. What applies to your venue depends on your situation: if you also play radio, TV, live music or other recorded music, those follow their own rules. Check with Entandem what applies to you.
The plan is C$39.99 per month per location, billed in CAD, or C$399 a year on the annual plan. Seven-day free trial, no credit card required, cancel anytime. No setup fee and no lock-in.
No. Your subscription covers the My Corporate Radio service only. Live music, DJ sets with third-party tracks, karaoke nights and radio or TV played in the venue follow their own licensing rules, so check with Entandem what applies to you.
One plan, one price, all our curated stations. Catalogue documentation included. No credit card required for the trial.
For independent cafés, small restaurants, boutiques, salons and studios with a single location.
No credit card required for the trial.