Music licensing for hotels: lobby, restaurant, events and rooms

Music in a hotel is a public performance

Copyright law says what it means to perform a work “publicly”. It means a performance “at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered” (17 U.S.C. §101, definitions). Put simply: a place open to the public, or a large group beyond family and friends. Groups called performing rights organizations, or PROs, license that right. They act for songwriters and publishers.

SESAC puts it simply for hotels: “If your hotel uses music in guest areas, then you likely need a license” (SESAC, music licensing for hotels). SESAC lists “hotels, motels, resorts, health clubs” among its licensees (SESAC FAQ). Global Music Rights (GMR) names hotels as one of the business types it treats differently when it sets rates (Global Music Rights FAQ).

Each PRO licenses only its own catalog of songs. ASCAP’s hotel license says its fees “specifically exclude the value” of rights held by “Broadcast Music, Inc., SESAC Inc. and Global Music Rights” (ASCAP Musical Works License Agreement for Hotels and Motels, 2022 form, published by AHLA). GMR says licenses from the other three “do not grant you authorization” to play its writers’ music, “and vice versa” (Global Music Rights FAQ). Do I need ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR? explains how the four fit together.

Hotel music uses, one by one

ASCAP’s hotel license goes through a hotel area by area. It splits music into two groups: “Recorded Music Activity” and “Live Entertainment Activity”. It leaves out a third group, “Third-Party Licensable Activity”, which it defines in three parts (ASCAP hotel license, 2022 form). The quotes below come from that form unless another source is named. Other PROs’ licenses, and later ASCAP versions, may use different words.

Lobby and background music

Recorded music is any public performance at the hotel “whether in common areas (including gyms and spas) or Lodging Rooms”. It can come from recordings, digital audio, radio or TV. The hotel license leaves out music from “any jukebox, background music service” when its public performance is “otherwise licensed or licensable”. That means licensed, or licensable, through ASCAP or the Jukebox License Office. SESAC adds a limit for background music services. Their license “only extends to the music they supply” to places with “no admission, membership or similar charge” (SESAC FAQ).

Restaurant and bar

If the hotel runs an outlet itself, the outlet is part of the premises the hotel license covers. Some areas are run, or mainly controlled, by another company (a “third party”) under “a lease, license or other agreement”. If that company runs “a restaurant, bar, retail store, shopping mall, spa or fitness club, or other similar establishment” there, the form calls it Third-Party Licensable Activity. It sits outside the hotel license.

Live music, DJs and karaoke

Live Entertainment Activity is any activity that “features live musicians, singers or other performing artists of music”. This includes, among others, DJs and karaoke hosts. GMR says the owner or operator is responsible for the performances at its venue. Paying the performers “will not relieve you of your licensing obligation” (Global Music Rights FAQ). More in Do I need a license for live music, DJs or karaoke?

Ballrooms, meeting rooms and private events

SESAC was asked about “meeting/banquet rooms, reception halls, or ballrooms”. It says “The Copyright Law of the United States and subsequent case law” makes the owner or operator responsible. In SESAC’s words, that duty is getting permission for copyrighted music “played in rented or leased areas” (SESAC FAQ). ASCAP’s hotel form leaves out some event music. One case is music “produced, presented, promoted, managed, operated, conducted and/or controlled, in whole or in part, by a third party”. That applies to music at “any conference, congress, convention, exposition, industrial show, institute, meeting, seminar, teleconference, trade show or other business presentation”. The form also leaves out events where the hotel acts only as agent in a “buy/sell” deal. The same goes where it mainly handles booking or ticket sales. The two documents describe event space differently. So the place to look is the license wording and each event contract.

Gym, spa and fitness

The form names “gyms and spas” among the common areas where the hotel license covers recorded music. A “spa or fitness club” run by a third party under a lease falls outside it. Fitness classes taught to music are worth listing as a separate use.

Music on hold

Recorded music includes “a music-on-hold telephone system operated by Licensee at or for the Premises”. GMR says: “Music-on-hold is a type of public performance” (Global Music Rights FAQ).

TVs in rooms and common areas

Recorded music also covers radio and TV in common areas or guest rooms. The form’s words are “reception and access of radio and/or television (including cable, satellite and any other form of linear or on-demand audiovisual programming)”. SESAC says its deals with cable and satellite providers “do not extend to authorize the public performance of those programs in your business” (SESAC FAQ). There is a narrow exemption for broadcasts. Is my venue exempt from music licensing? explains it.

How hotel fees are set

ASCAP’s 2022 hotel form sets two fees. The recorded music fee for each hotel follows its number of guest rooms (“Lodging Rooms”). The live entertainment fee follows what the hotels spend on live entertainment in a year. The license covers only the hotels listed in its Schedule A. The licensee’s other hotels “are not covered by or subject to this License Agreement” (ASCAP hotel license, 2022 form). GMR says its rate depends on “your type of business and how the music is presented to the public” (Global Music Rights FAQ). SESAC says its fees “are determined by relevant industry criteria” (SESAC FAQ).

To give a sense of scale, Bloomberg reported this example from the American Hotel & Lodging Association: “A large hotel that hosts occasional live music events could be paying a single PRO $5,000 to $20,000 a year. If it’s paying all of the major PROs, it could be incurring as much as $80,000 in fees, according to the association” (Bloomberg via Indianapolis Business Journal, July 9, 2025). That is the association’s example, not a price quote for any hotel. What does a music license cost? covers what drives fees for restaurants and bars.