A Guide to Music for Hotels

To begin this process, you need to have a firm grasp of what your hotel brand personality is. What differentiates your hotel brand from the next? Who is your target customer? What do they like? What kind of person are they? What’s important to them? If you can get into the psyche of your customers, you’ll be able to create an experience that they’re guaranteed to love, remember, and recommend. It will also help you to craft an engaging brand visually with the right colours, logos, and design styles.

Creating a hotel brand that goes beyond comfy beds and brilliant breakfasts requires much more than beautiful branding. You need to ensure that the brand story and identity expand to every touch point your guests experience from the moment they discover your brand. This means the right tone of voice with every written content they read, the perfect photography and design with every digital and printed marketing they notice. But most importantly, you need to ensure that the environment you create within the hotel itself reaffirms this brand identity to create a strong and sophisticated experience, every time.

To allow guests to fully absorb an eclectic experience, hotels need an audio identity that is aligned with their brand personality and target demographic. This is all about engaging the power of sound to further enhance the brand. Audio has a powerful and interesting effect on everyone. Ever heard a song that takes you back to a certain moment in time? How does that make you feel? Ever heard a song that just has you tapping your feet? What about that one album you love to just sit back and relax to at the end of a hard week? Music plays with our emotions, and this is a powerful element we can tap into with music in your hotel…

Do I need a music license for my hotel?

Playing music in a hotel isn’t as simple as ‘plug and play’ with your favourite albums and playlists. As the hotel is effectively public domain, you’ll need a music license. This not only gives you permission to play music in a commercial setting, but also ensures the writer and performers receive royalties for it; thus supporting the music industry as you go. This is a crucial step in creating the right atmosphere in your hotel to ensure you avoid hefty fines and legal battles; fines themselves can be up to 300,000 euros per incident!

How much does a music license cost for my hotel?

Now you’ve established the requirement for a music license, let’s take a look at how much this will cost. This depends on whether you want to play copyrighted or non-copyrighted music in the hotel. If you’d like to play copyrighted music, you’ll need to obtain a licence from one of the performing rights organisations (PROs) such as SACEM (France), GEMA (Germany), PRS for Music (UK) and SIAE (Italy). These organisations represent the rights of music creators and allow you to play their music in your hotel. The cost of a music licence from these organisations typically ranges from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars per year, depending on the size of your hotel and the number of speakers you have playing out the music.

If you’re not sure where to start when acquiring a music license, it’s good to work with a professional music provider like Mood Media. We will take care of the legalities and complexities for you, so you don’t need to concern yourself with the legal side or fees!

How do you create a playlist for a hotel?

Once the paperwork is handled… the fun can begin! A playlist is created to develop an atmosphere that is thoughtfully designed, spirited, and truly representative of the brand and customers. How do you want guests to feel? When you have a firm grasp on the experience, emotions and memories you are trying to create, a music provider can build an atmosphere to capture it. Whether it’s blending nostalgia with playful current pop hits, or creating a more subtle, stylish and cosy vibe, the music designers will put together a music experience that supports a flow of the right energy throughout the entire space. From sunrise to sundown, whether it’s enjoying a cup of coffee from the barista counter or savouring a cocktail at the bar before a night out on the town, the music always conveys the perfect ambience.

Do I need different music for different dayparts?

In addition to creating different playlists for different areas within the hotel (a different atmosphere, vibe and playlist in the lobby than in the bar, for example), you’ll also be able to create different day parts, if you work with a music-for-business provider such as Mood Media. By dayparting the program, the atmosphere created through the custom background music changes throughout the day. Let guests wake up with an uplifting and revitalizing yet balanced playlist, creating a sense of inspiration to begin all the adventures ahead.

At midday, the pace could quicken slightly, motivating guests through brisk and melodic energies. Then, as guests move into the evening, perhaps a mix of unexpected tracks play as the evening unfolds to build a feeling of excitement. Whatever music matches the mood of the day and the personality of the brand, we can develop a playlist to reflect it.

Don’t worry – if you’re not sure what strategy works best for dayparts and various playlists for different locations, that’s what we are here for! We have the know-how, hardware and software to develop the best solution for the right music for your hotel, day and night.