SAMRO and SAMPRA Licences Explained for Business Owners

Quick Answer

SAMRO and SAMPRA licences cover two different rights in the same song. SAMRO licenses the music itself and pays songwriters and composers. SAMPRA licenses the recording and pays artists and record labels. Play commercial music in your shop, restaurant or gym and you generally need both. Rights-included music avoids licence fees to organisations such as SAMRO.

You switch on a playlist in your shop, restaurant or salon and the atmosphere changes. But is that music licensed for your business? Plenty of owners assume a personal streaming account or the radio is enough. It isn’t. Here’s what music licensing means for a business, what SAMRO and SAMPRA licences each cover, and how to stay on the right side of the rules. Would you rather skip the paperwork? Our music for businesses page shows the options DMX offers.

What Music Licensing Means for a Business

Playing music in a public business counts as a public performance, and the people who own the music have to give permission first. Every song has two layers. The composition is the melody and lyrics written by songwriters and composers. The recording is the version an artist and record label made. Each layer has its own owners and its own licence.

In South Africa, two collecting societies handle most of this for businesses. People often call them the main music licensing companies in South Africa, although they’re collecting societies that license on behalf of music owners. SAMRO looks after the composition, and SAMPRA looks after the recording. Search for a “SAMRO license” or a “SAMPRA license” and you’ll land on the same thing South African English spells “licence”. Whichever way you spell it, licensed music pays the people who made it and keeps you on the right side of the law.

SAMRO vs SAMPRA at a Glance

	SAMRO	SAMPRA
What it licenses	The composition: music and lyrics	The sound recording (needletime)
Who it pays	Songwriters, composers and publishers	Recording artists and record labels
When you need it	You play music in public, live or recorded	You play commercial recordings in public
Typical businesses	Shops, restaurants, bars, gyms, salons, hotels	Shops, restaurants, bars, gyms, salons, hotels

Play a commercial track and you use both the composition and the recording, so both sets of owners get paid. That’s why the two licences go together. For the wider picture, read our guide to music licensed for business use in South Africa.

The 4 Types of Music Royalties and Which Ones Affect You

The music industry groups royalties into four standard types:

• Performance royalties: paid when music is played in public or broadcast.
• Mechanical royalties: paid when music is reproduced, such as copied onto a disc or a device.
• Synchronisation royalties: paid when music is paired with images, such as in an advert or promo video.
• Print royalties: paid when music is published as sheet music.

Playing music in your business means performance royalties, and your SAMRO and SAMPRA licences are how you pay them. Using a song in a promo video is a separate matter, so ask the rights holders first.

Which Businesses Need Both Licences

Any business that plays commercial music in public should expect to need both. That covers retail stores, restaurants and bars, salons and spas, gyms and leisure venues, hotels and waiting rooms. It also covers the music on hold when customers phone you. If customers can hear the music, it’s a public performance.

How to Get Licensed in South Africa

Here’s the usual route:

1. List what you play. Note whether it’s radio, playlists, recordings or live music.
2. Apply to SAMRO for a licence covering the compositions.
3. Apply to SAMPRA for a licence covering the recordings.
4. Check the tariff for your type of business. Fees are set by business type, so a restaurant and a gym won’t pay the same.
5. Keep your licence documents where you can show them if asked.

This is general information, not legal advice, so check current tariffs and terms with SAMRO and SAMPRA directly.

A Licence-Free Alternative: Rights-Included Music

You don’t have to play major label music at all. DMX’s rights-included music catalogue has over 4,000 tracks from independent and emerging artists, and it lets businesses avoid licence fees to organisations such as SAMRO. For major label music, DMX does not cover SAMRO or SAMPRA licence fees, so you’d arrange those yourself.

Which route is right? Major label music suits brands that want familiar hits, as long as you’re happy to hold the licences. Rights-included music suits businesses that would rather avoid those separate licence fees and keep the licensing deal for their music simple. Our post on switching to royalty-free music explains the trade-offs.