From those you mention about the only one that is legal is Muzak.

Music is copyrighted material. It is certainly OK to buy CD's or listen to the radio for your own personal enjoyment but when you use it for business purposes without licensing you violate the copyright and usage laws. Business use is just about anything from live performances to recorded background and even music-on-hold.

Music licensing and usage rights are handled by three agencies in the US, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. If you really want to play CD's or radio (or use them for MOH) in your place of business you can deal with them directly. You would have to purchase rights from all three because each one handles only certain artists and you could be using music by any of them. If you go to the BMI, ASCAP and SESAC websites you can see what is involved and what the costs are.

All three of these agencies have "spies" recruited from everyday people as the go about their business. They are asked to report back to them any business that may be playing "questionable" music so they can investigate. (I know how this works because I was approached by one agency to be a spy- I declined.) You can be sure that when the RIAA is fining teenagers thousands of dollars for copying music they will take a hard line with businesses not paying copyright fees.

As has been mentioned there is "royalty free" music available but don't expect anything you have ever heard before... It's probably OK for MOH but that's about it.

If you need background or foreground music or just want original artist material you are either going to have to pay for the rights yourself or use a music service such as Muzak and DMX. They pay the rights for you as part of your subscription but they can be a bit pricy especially if you are only using it for MOH.

Another consideration might be Sirius and XM radio. Both offer commercial packages with all rights paid. You mentioned Direct TV. They too offer a commercial package with many of their Music Choice lineup. Use a direct TV receiver and only use the audio outs, you don't get any video except for some text with title and artist.

I believe all three of these are only something like $19.95 per month.

-Hal

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