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Music licensing for cafes & restaurants in Ireland

Melodial for Cafés and Restaurants

Music licensing for hospitality is confusing, expensive, and easy to get wrong. We built Melodial so you never have to think about it. Fully licensed music for your venue, for €6.99 a month. The licence is in the subscription.

Yes, the playlist on the floor counts too.

Most café and restaurant owners have no idea that the playlist on the floor needs a commercial licence. Fair enough. Nobody tells you until a letter from a collecting society arrives.

The rules say that any music your customers or staff can hear, whether it's over the dining room speakers, behind the bar, or from a phone by the coffee machine, counts as a public performance. Personal streaming accounts, CDs, and free-to-air radio all need a separate commercial licence the moment customers can hear them, and there's no exemption for a small café.

For a typical venue, that licence runs well into four figures a year, on top of what you pay for the music itself. Having spent enough years in hospitality ourselves, we think that's a rough deal, so we made a version where the music and the licence are the same €6.99 subscription.

A typical cafe or restaurant

Here's what the traditional route costs a typical cafe or restaurant, and what we charge instead

€1,012
€712
€300
Traditional / year
€69.99
Melodial Basic / year
IMRO licence Music vendor
That's about
€942
back in your pocket every year, for a dining room of around 50 seats.

Melodial Basic is €6.99/month, music and licence in one bill. No IMRO fee, no second streaming subscription.

Based on published IMRO rates for a dining room of around 50 seats. Includes 23% VAT. Music vendor is an estimate: a typical business subscription starts around €25 a month. Full details on our licensing guide.

If a collecting society ever contacts you, we've got your back

Certificate of Compliance included. Download your official licence certificate from your account. If IMRO or any licensing body contacts your cafe or restaurant, show them the certificate. You're covered. And if you need help responding, forward us their email and we'll draft the reply.

The three rights you need to play music commercially

There are three separate rights involved in playing music in a business. The traditional system makes you deal with them across multiple bills. With Melodial, all three are in the one subscription.

Recording rights

The right to stream a specific sound recording of a song.

✓ Covered by Melodial

Publishing rights

The right to use the underlying composition and lyrics.

✓ Covered by Melodial

Public performance rights

The right to play music in a commercial environment where customers can hear it.

✓ Covered by Melodial

Melodial owns or directly licenses every track in its catalogue. None of it is registered with any collecting society, so there are no royalties to collect and no licence fees to pay. Your subscription is your licence.

Playlists for every part of your day

From open to close, Melodial has playlists for every moment. No explicit lyrics, no jarring transitions.

Café Beats
Café Beats
Warm · Rich · Aromatic

Bright, easy listening for the morning rush and the counter.

Late Morning Coffee
Late Morning Coffee
Easy · Bright · Unhurried

Relaxed tempos for the between-services lull.

Pop Energy
Pop Energy
Upbeat · Current · Fun

Chart-friendly energy for the afternoon rush.

Soft Pop
Soft Pop
Mellow · Warm · Easygoing

Softer pop to ease into the evening.

Start your free trial to hear the full library, 50+ playlists across 30 genres.

Switch in 3 minutes

1

Sign up for a free trial. No credit card required.

2

Pick a playlist. Connect it to your speakers via the app, Bluetooth, or AUX.

3

Download your Certificate of Compliance. You're covered from that moment.

Why Melodial costs a fraction of the traditional route

Traditional

You pay IMRO for the public performance licence, then pay a separate streaming vendor for the music itself. Two bills, and every layer between you and the artist takes its share.

Melodial

Melodial owns or directly licenses every track. There is no IMRO fee to add on top, so your subscription is both the music and the licence, for €6.99/month.

Common questions from cafes & restaurants

Does my venue really need a licence?
Yes, unfortunately. If a customer or staff member can hear music, whether in the dining room, behind the bar, or at the counter, it counts as a public performance and needs a commercial licence, even for a small café. The good news: with Melodial, that licence is already inside your €6.99/month subscription.
Can I just use my Spotify or Apple Music subscription?
We wish. Personal streaming accounts are licensed for private, non-commercial use only, so playing them where customers can hear the music is still an unlicensed public performance, whatever the tier. Melodial works the same way in practice, an app connected to your speakers, except the commercial licence is built in.
Is Melodial really a legal alternative to a IMRO licence?
Yes. Melodial owns or directly licenses every track in its catalogue. None of it is registered with any collecting society, so there are no royalties to collect and no licence fees to pay. Your subscription is your licence.
What if IMRO contacts my venue?
If IMRO or any licensing body contacts your venue, show them your Melodial Certificate of Compliance. You're covered. And if you need help responding, forward us their email and we'll draft the reply.
Can I still play Spotify or the radio alongside Melodial?
If you play any commercially released music, even occasionally, you'll still need a collecting society licence for that music. To fully replace the collecting society fee, play Melodial exclusively during business hours.
Do you have mainstream artists?
No, and that's exactly why you don't need a collecting society licence. Our catalogue is professionally produced music designed for venues, and our artists have millions of streams of their own. Most customers just notice the atmosphere is right.
What does the music actually sound like?
Modern, high-quality music across 24 genres, including café acoustic, jazz, bossa nova, lo-fi, pop, and classical. This is not elevator music. Start a free trial and listen for yourself, no card required.
What if I've been playing unlicensed music until now?
You're far from alone, and the fix is simple. Collecting societies can back-charge for past unlicensed use, so the sooner you're covered the better. Subscribe, download your Certificate of Compliance, and you're compliant from that moment.
What does Melodial Basic actually include?
One flat €6.99/month (or €69.99/year) subscription covers the music and the licence for a single stream, playing to as many speakers as you like at one location, with a downloadable Certificate of Compliance and playback on any device connected to your speakers.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. No contracts and no cancellation fees. Your access continues until the end of your current billing period.
What our customers say
We stumbled upon Melodial trying to find something cheaper than paying for a music licence. We were worried the music would be dull, but to our surprise there is a real variety of playlists, and customers have even been bobbing along.
Debbie, Haru Dining · harudining.com
Great service, great pricing, so easy to join, and a wide range of music. Couldn't ask for more for our restaurant.
Taline T.
Melodial has a fantastic selection of music for all business types; our customers can't stop raving about our new tunes. And the best part? Melodial is cost-effective, making it the ideal choice for small businesses.
The Heavenly Vegan

Great music for your venue. No licence headaches.

Fully licensed music, €6.99/month, licence included. Try it free for 14 days, no card required.

Read the full licensing guide →
Start your free trial No credit card required