In Canada the right to play popular music in a business is split across two layers — the musical works and the sound recordings — administered by two separate organizations. Since 2019 they are invoiced together through Entandem. This guide explains what SOCAN and RE:SOUND each cover, why most venues need both, what the combined bill typically looks like, and how a proprietary catalogue produced in-house works as an alternative for background music.
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SOCAN and RE:SOUND administer two distinct layers of rights in Canada. SOCAN represents the public performance rights of songwriters, composers and music publishers — the musical works themselves. RE:SOUND represents the remuneration rights of performers and record companies — the sound recordings. The two layers do not overlap: a SOCAN licence grants nothing over the recordings, and a RE:SOUND licence grants nothing over the compositions. A business that plays music from their repertoires generally needs both.
Since 2019 the two organizations operate Entandem, a joint venture created precisely to remove the double paperwork: a venue obtains its licences in a single transaction, with one point of contact and one invoice. The underlying tariffs remain those certified by the Copyright Board of Canada for each repertoire.
The key point: in Canada the music licence question always has two layers — the works and the recordings. Entandem combines them into one invoice, but the cost remains the sum of both, plus the music source itself, which is a separate cost layer.
The figures below are orders of magnitude for a small, single-location business playing background music. Real fees scale with occupancy, floor area and music usage, and the certified tariffs are revised periodically.
SOCAN administers the works of songwriters, composers and publishers. For a small business playing background music, the annual tariff typically starts in the low hundreds of dollars and scales with capacity, audible floor area and how the music is used. Venues with live music, dancing or events pay materially more. Current tariffs: socan.com
RE:SOUND administers the second layer: the sound recordings and the performers on them. Its certified tariffs sit in a comparable order of magnitude and likewise depend on premises type, size and usage, with separate tariffs for dancing, fitness activities and events. Current tariffs: resound.ca
Entandem is not a third fee: it is the single channel, operated by SOCAN and RE:SOUND, through which both layers are invoiced. One registration, one point of contact, one invoice covering both SOCAN and RE:SOUND. The amounts remain those set by the tariffs certified for each organization. How it works: entandemlicensing.com
Adding the entry-level tariffs of the two organizations, the combined annual bill for even a small single-location venue commonly lands in the hundreds of dollars, and easily above a thousand for venues with meaningful capacity — and that is the floor, not the average. Restaurants with larger dining rooms, shops with bigger audible floor areas, hotels with multiple public spaces, and any venue with live music or dancing sit well above it. On top of the licence, the venue still needs a music source designed for commercial use, which is a further recurring cost.
And Spotify does not replace any of this. Consumer accounts on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music are licensed for personal use only; their terms of service explicitly exclude playback in commercial premises. A personal streaming subscription is not a music licence for a business — full details in our guide Can I use Spotify in my business?
The legal framework recognises that catalogues of works outside the repertoires administered by collecting societies are a legitimate alternative for commercial venues. When a service provider produces music in-house or works with a catalogue that has never been registered with the collecting societies, the works are not part of the repertoires they administer.
This is the framework under which My Corporate Radio operates. MCR is a music streaming service provider for commercial venues. The catalogue streamed to subscribers consists of works for which the rights have been settled directly between MCR and the producers and authors involved. Those works are not part of the repertoires administered by SOCAN, RE:SOUND or equivalent collective management organizations in other jurisdictions.
Emanuele Carocci, a radio broadcaster with over 20 years of professional on-air experience, works as a host on national commercial radio and leads the music curation team at My Corporate Radio.
The MCR catalogue is programmed under his direction with the discipline of professional radio: five editorial stations plus a seasonal extra, each built for a context — the morning service in a cafe is not the late-afternoon shift in a hotel lobby, and the curation reflects that.
For a single-location business on the Background Music plan, the all-inclusive cost is $16.99 per month, billed in USD£12.99 per month, billed in GBP€14.99 per month, billed in EUR: the curated stations, the streaming infrastructure, announcements, and documentation of the catalogue's standing outside the collecting society repertoires. The 7-day free trial requires no credit card. For multi-location operators, custom pricing is available at sales@mycorporateradio.com.
Entandem is the joint venture created in 2019 by SOCAN and RE:SOUND to simplify music licensing for Canadian businesses: one registration, one point of contact and one invoice covering both layers. Details at entandemlicensing.com.
Entandem invoices the certified tariffs of both SOCAN and RE:SOUND, which depend on premises type, size or capacity and how the music is used. For a small business playing background music the combined annual amount typically lands in the hundreds of dollars and scales from there. Verify the current figure for a specific venue directly with Entandem.
SOCAN covers the musical works of songwriters, composers and publishers; RE:SOUND covers the sound recordings and the performers on them. The two layers do not overlap, and a varied popular playlist engages both — which is precisely why Entandem invoices the two together.
Generally yes, if the music played includes works and recordings from their repertoires. Since 2019 both are handled through a single Entandem invoice, so in practice a venue deals with one organization for both layers.
For background music specifically, a business can use a streaming service whose catalogue consists of works outside the repertoires administered by the collecting societies, with rights settled directly between the service and the producers and authors involved. My Corporate Radio operates under this model. A venue that also performs works from those repertoires will still need the relevant licences for that repertoire.
The Background Music plan costs $16.99£12.99€14.99 per month, billed in the matching currency. The 7-day free trial requires no credit card. Multi-location pricing via sales@mycorporateradio.com.
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Official sources for current licensing rates:
Entandem: entandemlicensing.com
SOCAN: socan.com
RE:SOUND: resound.ca
Copyright Board of Canada: cb-cda.gc.ca
Tariff schedules are certified and revised by the Copyright Board of Canada and vary by venue profile. For the figure that applies to a specific business, always consult the official organization directly.