Music licensing for bars in Oakland, CA.
Oakland has one of the deepest live-music scenes in California — Uptown, Jack London, Temescal, Lake Merritt — plus a heavy hip-hop, soul, and jazz catalog night-to-night. Each of the four PROs licenses a different slice of what gets played here.
What would a Oakland bar pay?
Enter your venue capacity. We'll estimate the monthly cost across all four PROs.
What Oakland bar owners are facing
Four Performing Rights Organizations. Four bills. Four portals. Four chances to get sued. The math doesn't care which city you're in.
A 150-cap restaurant in Sacramento received a five-figure ASCAP demand letter in 2023 for playing background music — no DJ, no live act, just a speaker and a playlist.
Statutory damages: up to $150,000 per song. Performing Rights Organization win rate in court: virtually 100%.
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
Quotes in January, pays by March
Broadcast Music, Inc.
Quotes in April, pays by June
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers
Invite-only, negotiated rates
Global Music Rights
Direct negotiation only
Plus your California on-premises liquor license is regulated by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) — and PRO field reps cross-reference those records.
Why bars in California use Nibbles and Bits
Whether you're a Oakland neighborhood spot or a multi-location operator, the playbook is the same: one quote, one signature, one monthly bill.
One quote, all four PROs
Tell us about your venue — capacity, music type, hours. We calculate exact fees across ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR for Oakland venues like yours.
We pay the PROs in full
We cut the checks to all four PROs the day you sign. You stop hearing from them. Your California license file stays clean.
One monthly payment
Predictable, monthly, automatic. Quarterly plan available. We handle renewals, certificates, and any PRO follow-ups for the life of your account.
What California operators say
I was paying four different organizations on four different schedules and still got a cease-and-desist because I missed a renewal. Nibbles and Bits took over everything in one afternoon. Haven’t thought about it since.
Bar owner, California
150-cap restaurant & bar
My GM didn’t even know SESAC existed. We’d been paying ASCAP and BMI for years and figured we were covered. We weren’t.
Operator, California
Two-location restaurant group
The annual lump sums were killing my January cash flow. One monthly payment is what I’d been begging the PROs for since I opened.
Owner, California
200-cap neighborhood bar
Ready to lock in Oakland compliance?
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