Hidden – Feb 2026
Have you ever walked into a shop and felt that the mood is just right? We often talk about the vibe of a space, but there is a complex financial process running beneath every track played in the background.
In the music industry, we often focus on the “Streaming Issue”. But at Music360, our research is focussing on a different revenue stream: Public Performance Rights.
To the average listener, music can be “free” or only a monthly subscription away. But for a business, playing music is a legal commercial activity. There are two primary ways businesses currently navigate this:
- The Blanket License: Most venues pay an annual fee to their local Collective Management Organization (CMO) (like GDA, SENA, BUMASTEMRA, IMRO and GTM, all partners of the project). This fee gives them the legal right to play almost any song in the world. The price is usually calculated based on the venue’s size (square meters), the type of business, or the number of employees.
- Commercial Streaming Services: Some businesses subscribe to B2B platforms like Soundtrack Your Brand, Sixieme sens or Mood Media. These services handle the licensing and provide curated playlists, ensuring the business stays compliant without having to track every song themselves.
The current system has room for improvement. Because it is physically impossible for a CMO to sit in every café and write down every song played, the money collected from those “blanket licenses” is often distributed using proxies.
Historically, royalties have been paid out based on radio logs or statistical “best guesses.” If a song is a hit on the radio, the system assumes it’s also being played in your local bakery. This creates a “rich-get-richer” cycle where niche, local, or emerging artists—whose music might be perfect for a chill coffee shop vibe—are often left out of the payday.
Music360 has been studying this ecosystem through:
- Audio Fingerprinting: Using technology from our partner BMAT, we can identify music even in noisy environments (like a crowded bar) with near-perfect accuracy.
- Living Labs: We are testing digital monitoring tools in real-world environments—from retail stores to hospitals—to capture a granular, second-by-second record of music usage.
- Direct Connectivity: Our platform bridges the gap between the store and the creator’s dashboard, moving us toward a “pay-per-play” reality for public spaces.
Public performance accounts for 28% of total royalty collections, outperforming streaming’s 21%. It is a large slice of the pie so any improvement in the distribution methodology has a big impact. By closing the precision gap, Music360 isn’t just making the system more tech-savvy; we are making it more equitable. We are ensuring that when a business invests in its atmosphere, that investment reaches the exact artists who created it.
Music360 