Can You Play Spotify Premium in a Restaurant?

Spotify says no, Premium included. Here's how to check a business music service against the way your restaurant actually uses music before you buy it or cancel anything.

Ryan Speier

Quick answer: No. Spotify's own support page says Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use, and that you can't broadcast or play it publicly from a business such as a bar or restaurant. Paying for Premium doesn't change that. If you want recorded music in your dining room, move to a service that's sold for business playback. Before you buy it, or cancel anything you already pay for, get its terms in writing and check them against every way your restaurant uses music.

This answer covers Spotify's own rule and how to check a replacement for ordinary background music at a US restaurant. It isn't a guide to music copyright, license fees or penalties. We didn't test any music service or review any real restaurant's licenses. Sources were read on October 16, 2026.

What Spotify says

Spotify's support article on public and commercial use says: “Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use. This means you can't broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc.” The page doesn't show a publication date.

Spotify's US Terms of Use, last updated September 4, 2026, say the same thing in contract language. They cover Spotify's free options and its paid subscriptions, and the permission they grant is to “make personal, non-commercial use of the Spotify Service.” Premium is one of those paid options, so the same limit applies to it.

Two other things don't change the answer:

  • A brand account. The terms let a company set up a Brand Account that follows users and creates and shares playlists. They also say the terms apply to both you and the brand. Nothing in that section gives permission to play Spotify in your restaurant, and the support page makes no exception for it. Publishing a playlist under your restaurant's name is not the same as being allowed to play it through the speakers.
  • Keeping it in the background. The support page makes no exception for background music or low volume.

What to use instead

Pick a music source that's expressly offered for playing in a business, then check what it covers at your address before you pay. Spotify's page sends business users to “our friends at Soundtrack,” a business music service. That's Spotify's pointer, not our recommendation, and it isn't the only option. We haven't compared business music services or their prices.

Soundtrack is still a useful example of what to read, because its own pages show why a “licenses included” headline isn't the whole answer:

  • Its US licensing page says the plan includes recording, publishing and public performance rights, and includes ASCAP, BMI and GMR licenses. Soundtrack describes those three as organizations that collect royalties for public performance of music in the US.
  • The same page says that if you charge admission fees, play live music or have timed music for exercise classes, you may need additional permissions. It also says its information is general guidance and that holding all the licenses your business needs is your responsibility.
  • Its General Terms and Conditions, last updated March 12, 2026, say that for customers in the US and Canada, Soundtrack obtains the public performance licenses for music played through the service “for so long as they use the Service in accordance with this Agreement.” Outside the US and Canada, the terms make customers responsible for those licenses, and its licensing guide goes country by country.
  • Those terms rank a separately signed master agreement, and the terms shown when you place an order, above the general terms. Read what you'll actually sign, not just the website.

The US page also tells businesses that already hold ASCAP, BMI or GMR licenses that they can cut costs by cancelling them. Don't cancel anything on the strength of a marketing page. An existing license may cover music that won't come through the new service, such as a band night or a DJ. Get in writing what the new service covers at your address, and find out what each existing license covers, before you drop one.

A fictional example: background music vs. a music night

Corner Cup is a made-up café in the US. It plays recorded music through ceiling speakers from open to close, and the owner has been running it from a personal Premium account.

Background music only

The Premium account has to go. Say the owner looks at Soundtrack. For a café whose only music is the service playing in the background, Soundtrack's terms say it obtains the US public performance licenses, as long as the café uses the service the way the agreement allows. The owner still saves the actual order terms, confirms the café's address is covered and fills in the note below. A sales page isn't proof that every license question is settled.

Adding a Thursday music night with a $10 cover

Now two different parts of Soundtrack's terms come into play:

  • Limits on using the service. Under “Customer Obligations,” customers agree not to use the service to accompany musicians, singers, dancers or other performers, karaoke included. Customers in the US and Canada also agree not to use it at any entertainment or public event that charges admission. So the service can't be the singer's backing track, and it can't play at the ticketed show.
  • Gaps in the license coverage. Under “Public Performance and Royalty Payments,” the terms say that if you play music in a business that plays music from another source, such as a DJ, karaoke or live music, or that charges an admission fee, those public performance rights aren't licensed by Soundtrack and you should contact the local rights organizations. Instructed exercise classes are on the same list.

That wording is about the business, not just the hours of the show. So the owner shouldn't assume the daytime coverage is untouched, or that only Thursday night needs a look. There's no shortcut in the terms either: they don't say that buying another license makes the prohibited uses allowed. Before the first music night, the owner gets the provider's written answer on how the café's setup is treated, contacts the rights organizations about the live music and the cover charge, and keeps any existing licenses until those answers are in.

Copy this note before you switch

Fill in one note per location before you buy a business music service or cancel anything. It's written to stand on its own if you hand it to a manager.

MUSIC SOURCE COVERAGE NOTE
(one per location)
Use: choosing recorded background music
for one US restaurant. Not clearance for
live music, DJs, karaoke, instructed
fitness classes or events with a cover
or admission charge. A decision aid, not
a legal clearance or a license.

1. VENUE AND SOURCE
Business: ___________________________
Address: ____________________________
Country: ____________________________
Proposed service and plan: __________
Date: __________

2. EVERY MUSIC USE AT THIS BUSINESS
Background music (rooms, patio):
_____________________________________
Other sources or events (live music,
DJ, karaoke, classes, cover or
admission charge, anything else):
_____________________________________
Write NONE only after you've checked.

3. PROVIDER'S WRITTEN TERMS
Terms, order form or agreement (link
or file, and its date): _____________
Rights it says are included, and for
which country: ______________________
Exclusions and prohibited uses it
lists: ______________________________

4. OPEN QUESTIONS AND OWNER
Any use in 2 that the terms in 3 don't
clearly cover: ______________________
Who gets a written answer, by when:
_____________________________________

STOP AND VERIFY before relying on the
service if 3 is blank or anything in 2
isn't clearly covered. Don't cancel an
existing music license because a plan
says "licenses included." First confirm
in writing what that license covers
that the new service doesn't. A personal
Spotify account isn't a stopgap.

Related reading

Sources

More answers

Next steps

All answers · Free restaurant calculators · Opening planner