It’s essential to be aware of the importance of music in our store or business.
Nowadays every company manager knows that background music is an important aspect but…
To what extent does affect our revenue?
Here are some facts about how music affects your business:
Music changes the consumer experience
- 80% of purchasing decisions are made impulsively at the point of sale.
- 50% leave the store because they are bothered by the song selection
- 39% of them don’t come back. Ever.
A proper musical selection increases the time spent in the store
- 40% of clients spend more time in the store if they feel the music is well chosen.
- Better music = more time spent = more sales.
Adequate music increases fidelity to the brand
- 21% recommend you if they felt good with the music
- 31% come back if the music is appropriate
Music creates identity
- 97% of general managers of the best retailers in the world say that music strengthens the brand personality.
Now, knowing how music influences our business in the buying decision of our customers…
What kind of songs can we use and how to get them to avoid copyright problems?
If you use streaming music from Spotify, iTunes, Youtube, radio or television you would have to pay an expensive monthly fee to the PRO’s (Performance Rights Organization) in your country.
Fortunately, you can find other professional -and more affordable- options to not to worry about that.
Options than offer:
- A huge amount of royalty-free songs, organized by musical genres and mood, so you can pick the ones that best suit your business.
- Forget about making the selection of songs, because they have ‘radios’ in which no song is repeated. Just press the play button!
- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service via streaming. That is, you will not need anything more than a computer, smartphone or tablet -even if is not connected to the Internet-, without any additional software.
- Affordable prices, no permanence commitment or initial/final fees.
Which option do we recommend?
It all depends on your budget and needs, but we found that Soundtrack Your Brand offers the best value for money Soundtrack is one of the references in the business streaming music industry.
In fact, it is the solution used by companies such as TAG Heuer, McDonald’s or IKEA.
Some users have referred to this platform as Spotify for Business.
However, Soundtrack Your Brand has nothing to do with Spotify.
The only thing that unites them is that Spotify is an investment partner of Soundtrack Your Brand but their services and coverage are not totally different.
The service offers 58+ million tracks and a wide variety of playlists, always updating the music that is reproduced with the aim of not saturating either customers or employees.
Soundtrack Your Brand offers an online music playback platform that you can manage with any Windows, Mac, Android or iPhone device, licensed for commercial and public venues.
And also you will be able to enjoy the following advantages:
- They provide their service in all countries around the world.
- They let you play more than 560 music playlists, guaranteed to fit any type of business.
- If you have multiple locations, you can control them centrally with an easy-to-use dashboard.
- You can schedule your music weekly to set up the right mood for any day.
- You can ‘drag and drop’ any Spotify playlists.
- They let you try the service for 14 days for free with no commitment, cancel online at any time. No credit card required.
What’s their price?
For Soundtrack Your Brand, the price to enjoy all these facilities is always fixed and independent of the square meters of the premises and is $35 per month -for the USA and Canada-.
If your business is located in another country, check their pricing page to know what would be the cost.
They also offer a free 14 day trial period so you can verify their excellent performance without any compromise.
It is worth mentioning that Soundtrack Your Brand usually offers all the necessary rights on the music tracks they have available.
However, in some countries -including UK and Australia- it is necessary to acquire the public performance license through the record labels, music publishers, and/or local collection societies in order to legally use Soundtrack Your Brand.
Choose the best Music Service to attract customers
What are the best solutions available online?
Let’s make a comparison by geographical zones:
Music stream for business – International
These options offer their services all around the world, usually, their dashboards are in English but their excellent customer service will be available to you at any time:
- Soundtrack Your Brand: As we said, they are the best option in this industry. This platform offers a music streaming service, licensed for commercial and public spaces. In the USA and Canada, this service costs $35 per location & month but the good thing is you can try it for 14 days for free and cancel at any time.
- Soundsuit: It is the most automated and easy-to-use service on the market. Loved by innovative brands like BoConcept, IQOS, Izipizi, Audi, and more. This platform offers a real “music assistant for business owners”, licensed for commercial and public spaces. In the USA and Canada, Soundsuit costs $24.95 per location & month – all copyright fees included – and the great thing is that you can try it 30 days for free and cancel at any time.
- Heartbeats International: For big brands, a little bit more expensive. They create a complete strategy, a united perspective and a framework answering the fundamental questions of why, how, where and when to communicate the brand through music and sound.
- Sound Machine: Starting at $34.95/month, they provide a super-useful music service, where you can create your playlist, schedule them, incorporate promotional messages between them and have multiple locations. They offer also 1 month for free.
Music streaming services – USA
These companies offer their services only within the United States:
- Cloud Cover Music: Prices start at $16.16 per month and it’s definitely one of the best options. From the most popular hits by the biggest groups to tracks from newly breaking artists, they have it all. You can choose from over 150+ stations and combine them to create the perfect mix and remove songs that don’t fit your brand. They also offer their service in Canada.
- Pandora: Pandora and Mood Media have partnered to make Pandora internet radio, loved by over 200 million people for their personal use, now available for business as Pandora for Business. They will cover the required commercial use license – so you can now legally play Pandora for your customers.
- Rockbot: An amazing alternative. With over 14million songs in their catalog, they have a unique software so you can control the playlist from anywhere with a tablet or smartphone, that is, a remote control for your store managers.
- Jukeboxy: Jukeboxy costs only $24.95 per month and the subscription includes 300+ professionally curated playlists, scheduling by day-part where users can mix unlimited playlists, remote control via a web browser, IOS and Android apps, multi-account management from one platform, in-store audio messaging and “Jukeboxy DJ Set” where users can create their own mood, genre and decade based playlists. Jukeboxy is also available in Sonos speaker systems.
- Custom Channels: They have different packages, starting from $35/month. It gives you many fully licensed, ready-to-go music channels with playlists continuously updated by music professionals.
Music streaming for business – Europe & UK
These services are located within Europe and the United Kingdom:
- Soundtrack Your Brand: Spotify Business has rebranded as Soundtrack Your Brand. They offer endless music, always updated to the latest trends and use your phone or computer as a remote control for it. You can control all your locations from a single dashboard. It costs 29€ per location & month – after the first month.
- Auraclesound: Supplies the retail and leisure industries with a commercially licensed music streaming service via app, web player or hardware options.
Music stream for companies – South America & Spain
What differentiates these companies is that they will be able to attend you in Spanish:
- Brandtrack: One of the highest quality options. It offers over 120 music channels with Creative Commons music, designed by DJs and songs are updated monthly, so the music will be always original. Prices start at around $19 per month for a single physical store.
- Kasimu: This in-store music service has 12 music channels starting at 14.99€/month + VAT and you don’t have to pay any starting fee. It offers a free 3-day trial.
- Soundreef: Same as above, but also offers a free trial period of 15 days to see if we’re convinced. The cost varies with the square footage of your store. They pay royalties to the artist based on the music that is used.
Streaming music for business – Asia
There are also some services through the Asiatic continent:
- Express Melody: Based in Singapore but expanded with offices in China and Malaysia, they provide high-quality audio solutions for all kinds of business, from retailers to hotels or shopping malls. They have an unlimited music selection and provide the hardware to manage the sound ambiance remotely. They provide also a 14-day free trial.
Streaming services for business – Australia
And finally, there are Aussie streaming companies as well:
- StorePlay: An integrated app and web-based music subscription service providing music for hair salons, retailers, restaurants, or any other commercial premises. With curated music playlists to enhance the ambiance of their stores. They have also a Royalty-Free version available globally and they give you the first month for free when you sign up.
- Qsic: Prices start from $30/week. Australia’s first commercially licensed music streaming service, they take the hassle and complication out of your music system so you can have the proper background music without further headaches.
Music for Business (B2B)
As you can see, there are many different services in every country and each one offers not only different music but many other additional options and gadgets, like creating playlists, having remote controls or even letting the same clients choose the next song through an app!
So, the best thing you can do is to spend some time learning about the features they offer and the prices they have.
As we saw at the beginning of the article, music plays an important -if not essential- role in your business or store and it’s worth to choose the best option for it.
If you have a restaurant, a retail store, an express store, a small business or an office you surely have other important things to take care of.
Let any of these services do the music work!
