Questions everyone asks

Performing Rights Organizations. They collect royalties for songwriters and publishers. If you play music publicly — yes, even background music through a speaker — you need licenses from all four. Not one. Not two. All four.

Yes. Each PRO represents different songwriters, and they don't share repertoires. A single Spotify playlist will pull songs from all four catalogs at once. License only one and you're exposed on the songs the others cover. Licensing one PRO out of four is roughly the math of insuring one tire on your car.

PROs send field reps and use audio-recognition tools to document what's playing in unlicensed venues. If they catch you, you get a demand letter. If you ignore that, they sue in federal court. Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per song, or up to $150,000 per song for willful infringement. PRO win rates in copyright cases are extremely high because the law strongly favors the rights-holder.

You absolutely can pay them directly — and deal with four portals, four billing cycles, four renewal dates, four different customer service departments, and four chances to accidentally lapse. We consolidate all of it. One payment, one portal, one renewal. We pay the PROs in full upfront; you pay us a single predictable amount each month.

Yes. Our switcher flow at /onboarding/switch captures your existing PRO customer numbers and expiration dates, generates a Letter of Agency for each PRO so they start dealing with us instead of you, and puts you on a $10/mo maintenance tier until your first PRO renewal hits. At that point we transition you to the full bundle automatically — no gap in coverage.

Depends on your venue. A small bar with background music typically runs $1,500–$3,500/year across all four PROs combined. A 150-cap restaurant with DJ nights and a cover charge runs $3,000–$6,000/year. A 250+ cap live music room with ticketed events runs $6,000+/year. Our calculator at /quote uses the published 2026 ASCAP and BMI rate cards directly and estimates SESAC and GMR from current industry ratios — no email required.

12-month agreement matching the PRO license term. Renewal is automatic — you never have a gap in coverage. You can cancel from the billing portal anytime; your PRO licenses stay active through the end of the current paid period.

Section 110(5)(B) of the Copyright Act exempts small venues (under 3,750 sq ft for food service) from licensing — but only for broadcast radio and TV transmissions, with strict limits on the number of speakers and screens. Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, jukeboxes, DJs, and live bands are NOT exempt at any size. Most bars do not qualify. Use the risk check on the homepage to see where you stand.

ASCAP and BMI publish rate cards and process online; we can typically get you covered with them within a business week. SESAC and GMR don't publish rates and require direct outreach per venue, so those take longer — usually 2–4 weeks for the first cycle. After that, renewals are automatic.

Yes. The moment your agreement is signed, a digital compliance dashboard appears in your portal with all four PRO statuses, customer numbers, and a print-ready proof page (with QR-verifiable URL) you can show any field rep that walks in. We also handle all PRO correspondence — you never deal with them directly again.