Why High-Traffic Businesses Are Switching to Royalty-Free Music

Walk through a busy shopping centre or past the check-in desks of an airport lounge and there’s almost always music playing. It’s deliberate. Sound shapes how people feel in a space, and for businesses managing large volumes of foot traffic, the music decision has practical and financial implications that go well past personal taste.

One of those decisions is whether to use royalty free music, and more specifically, whether a Rights-Included model is the right fit for your environment.

What Is Royalty Free Music?

Royalty-free music is music licensed through a single once-off fee, with no recurring royalties payable each time it plays in a public space. Under traditional commercial music licensing, a song’s rights are split across multiple parties requiring licencing for public performance. 

This is the model DMX typically operates on. Through DMX’s Rights-Included Music repertoire is licensed exclusively to DMX and therefore no public performance societies can claim title, meaning no ongoing per-use costs and no multiple agreements to manage.

Why It Works for High-Traffic Environments

Not every business has the same relationship with music. In a restaurant or boutique store, customers settle in and the playlist becomes part of the experience. Familiar tracks can encourage people to stay longer.

High-traffic environments, such as shopping centres, corporate offices, airport lounges, hardware stores and medical suites, work differently. People are passing through, not lingering. Music fills the space and maintains the atmosphere, but it’s not what anyone came for. Research published in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that ambient sound directly influences how customers perceive and move through a commercial space. In high-traffic environments, tempo and tone matter more than track recognition.

Rights-Included Music suits these environments well. There are no recurring per-use fees regardless of daily foot traffic volumes, and the licensing arrangement stays straightforward to manage across large or multi-location sites. Music is one part of a larger in-store brand experience, and in high-traffic spaces, getting the audio environment right starts with having the correct sound system in place.

The Advantages of Rights-Included Music for Business

• Single licence, no multiple agreements. All rights sit with one owner, so there is no need to coordinate with multiple parties.
• Genre variety across environments. With over 4,000 tracks spanning acoustic, lounge, electronic, pop and R&B, the catalogue is curated for atmosphere and tempo rather than artist recognition.
• Built for continuous background use. Playlists are structured for businesses running music throughout the day across large spaces.
• Simple to manage at scale. One agreement covers your operation, removing administrative complexity for businesses with multiple locations. DMX’s Harmony platform allows you to manage your music scheduling and in-store content from one centralised system.

What to Be Aware Of

Rights-Included Music is not the right fit for every business.

• No chart-topping hits. If a song is performing on mainstream radio, it is almost certainly commercially registered and not available through a Rights-Included licence. Businesses that want recognisable, popular music as part of their customer experience will need a different licensing solution.
• Mixed music environments carry risk. If Rights-Included Music is in use at a location and an employee plays commercially registered music, even briefly, the business is immediately in breach. Any commercially registered music heard on the premises creates a compliance issue, regardless of how it got there.
• Genre depth varies. Global royalty-free catalogues can have limited representation of certain authentic genres. This is partly because independent artists producing Rights-Included content work outside the mainstream music industry, which affects the range available in some styles.

For a broader overview of music licensing for business use in South Africa, including what applies when playing commercially registered music, DMX has a dedicated guide covering the key considerations.

Is Rights-Included Music Right for Your Business?

The clearest indicator is dwell time. If customers move through your space quickly and the music is there to maintain atmosphere rather than drive engagement, Rights-Included Music is a practical fit.

It works well for businesses where:

• Foot traffic is high and continuous. Shopping centres, airports, hardware stores and medical facilities all fall into this category.
• Popular artist recognition is not part of the experience. The music supports the environment rather than contributing to a specific brand identity built around recognisable tracks.
• Licensing simplicity is a priority. One agreement, no recurring fees and no administrative complexity across locations.

If you are unsure which in-store music solution fits your business, the DMX team can walk you through the options.

Not Sure Which Option Fits Your Business?

If your business relies on familiar music to keep customers engaged for longer, or if your brand identity is closely tied to a specific mainstream sound, a fully licensed commercial catalogue may be the more appropriate route. DMX offers both options, so the decision comes down to what your space actually needs.

Speak to the DMX team about which music solution fits your environment.