Oktava vs music subscriptions for business
There are three ways a venue gets background music. A personal streaming account — not licensed for business use in most countries without a separate collecting-society license. A classic B2B music service — legal, but you pay the service and the society. And Oktava — a catalog outside society repertoires, where one subscription replaces both payments. The table is the whole argument; the rest of the page explains each row.
The three options, side by side
| Option | Legal for a business? | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Spotify or another personal streaming app | No. Consumer terms forbid business use, and playback in a venue needs a public-performance license from your collecting society on top. | Personal subscription price — plus the society tariffs you still owe, plus the risk of back-billing. |
| Classic B2B service (Soundtrack Your Brand and similar) | Yes — these services license repertoire music for business use. | Service subscription and the collecting-society tariffs — two separate bills. |
| Oktava | Yes — the catalog is registered with no collecting society, so playing it needs no society license. | From €150 a year (country price list). That's the whole music bill. |
Competitor prices depend on country and venue size, so this table stays qualitative — society tariffs are on your society's public rate card. The certificate and playback log that document the Oktava claim come with every account.
Why a personal streaming account doesn't cover a business
Consumer streaming licenses cover private listening. Playing the same music in a café or shop is a public performance: it needs a license from the local collecting society, and the streaming services' own terms forbid commercial use of personal accounts. Venues that play Spotify usually owe the society tariff in full — the app subscription changes nothing.
What classic B2B services actually sell
Services like Soundtrack Your Brand solve the terms-of-use problem honestly: their subscriptions are licensed for business playback. What they don't remove is the society bill — their catalogs are repertoire music, so the collecting society still charges your venue its public-performance tariff. Two payments, both legitimate.
What Oktava changes
The Oktava catalog is created for the service and registered with no collecting society, so for our catalog there is no society tariff to pay — the subscription is the whole bill. The claim is catalogue-scoped on purpose: if radio or Spotify also plays at your venue, society tariffs apply to that regardless. Your playback log shows which case is yours.
Questions, answered
Is playing Spotify in my venue really not allowed?
Not on a personal account. Spotify's terms forbid commercial use, and public performance in a venue needs a collecting-society license in most countries regardless of which app is playing.
Are classic B2B services a bad deal, then?
They're a legitimate deal: licensed business playback of repertoire music. The point of this page is narrower — with repertoire music you pay twice, service plus society. With a catalog outside the repertoires there is only the service.
What's the catch with Oktava?
The promise covers the catalog, not your venue as such. The moment radio, Spotify or live music plays, society tariffs apply to that. The certificate and playback log document what actually played — that's the whole mechanism.
This information is provided for general reference and is not legal advice.