It is common for many companies and small businesses to use royalty-free music and ringtones in their switchboards or call centres.
Before we show you where to buy and download this type of on-hold music, let’s take a look at the importance of using it and what type of music is most suitable.
When it comes to receiving calls in a telephone switchboard or call centre, it is very common to use ringtones and on-hold music in the process of directing customer calls, so that the waiting time is shorter and more pleasant for them.
Therefore, it must be ensured that these sounds are appropriate to the image that our company wants to provide.
Use of music or ringtones on hold
The study “Popular music, not the sound of silence, keeps callers on hold longer”– conducted by the British firm ICM, shows that there is a clear and direct relationship between the use of music as a hold tone and customer reaction:
70% of consumers surveyed hang up directly if there is no background sound.
On the other hand, it has also been confirmed that the use of famous music by well-known artists causes customers to continue to wait for a slightly longer period of time to be served.
So let’s see how and where to get the right background music for a switchboard.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can any type of music be used as a ringtone?
Yes, it is possible to use any type of music, but there are certain conditions.
Ideally, when choosing music as a ringtone, you should opt for songs by well-known artists, such as David Bisbal or Ed Sheeran.
However, such songs require permission from the author (or in this case the record label), which is not always obtained. In addition, you have to pay royalties that are usually quite high, both to them and to the authors’ society in your country.
As an alternative, there is so-called royalty-free music. This music is licensed under a much cheaper licence and is created by individual artists who transfer the rights of use so that other people can use it as they wish, both for private and commercial purposes.
The use of royalty-free tunes therefore allows companies to save the costs of annual renewal of music and extra payments to official collecting societies.
What kind of licence is needed to use the ringtones?
Because the use we want to give to the music in this case is very peculiar, it is difficult to find a licence that covers it and allows it.
However, there is a platform that gives us the option easily, called Audiojungle.
Audiojungle is a portal where you will find more than half a million pieces of music, some of a quality that has nothing to envy to that of great artists.
It has a licence – called ‘Standard License’ – which includes clauses for exclusive use in very specific situations such as, in this case, the use of the music as a ringtone for switchboards.
The price will depend on each music track, but what is certain is that with this licence the payment will be the minimum price of the song; in other words, if a song is shown on the portal with a price of 20€, that is the amount you will pay (there will not be a higher amount added for using that specific licence, unlike with the rest of the licences).
Is the licence valid forever?
Yes, the licence does not have an estimated time or limit of use.
Once purchased, it can be used for an unlimited period of time.
Can I use the licence for several telephone exchanges?
The acquisition of a licence gives you the right to use that song or ringtone in a switchboard.
Therefore, if you have several telephone exchanges, you will have to purchase as many licences as the number of telephone exchanges you have.
Where can I get on-hold ringtones?
To purchase the on-hold ringtones all you have to do is go to the Audiojungle website, register as an user and, once you have chosen the song you want, click on the type of licence and choose the first one, as you can see in the image below: 
My company is a start-up and we have no budget for ringtones on hold… Is it possible to use music or ringtones on hold for free?
In that case, it is also possible to acquire royalty-free music for free, on portals such as Free Music Archive or Incompetech.
The problem?
Normally such songs have a specific ‘Creative Commons’ licence, which is for non-commercial use only.
In case we want to use these songs as a ringtone for our company, we would have to point out before or after the ringtone is played who the creator of the song is, which would not look very professional. 
A viable alternative could then be to make your own original songs with any software or to make your own version of songs that are more than 70 years old, as these are no longer copyrighted by law.
We do however recommend purchasing a licence, as the time it will save you is worth much more than the small price you will pay, we are assured of a much higher quality and no future copyright problems in our company.
The purchase of a licence gives us the right to use that song or ringtone on a switchboard.
Therefore, if you have several, you will have to purchase as many licences as the number of telephone switchboards you have.
Conclusion
Knowing the importance of properly choosing a song as a ringtone for a telephone switchboard – taking into account that famous songs by well-known artists cause users to wait longer – and that it is not so easy to obtain licences for the use of these songs, it is advisable to acquire royalty-free music from the AudioJungle platform, as it has a licence that covers the use of music as a ringtone. 
In case your company is a start-up and you do not have enough budget, you can also resort to free royalty-free music protected by the Creative Commons licence.
The only condition you have to take into account is that you have to mention the artist before or after the song is played.
The last option would be to create new and original songs to avoid any problems with copyright claims.
Our recommendation is to purchase a licence to save time and gain quality and security when using music as a ringtone.
