How your playlists will be delivered and how to play them legally. Whilst streaming services are easily available, I use a small collection of tools that are easy and inexpensive to licence for domestic and commercial settings. Find out more about classifying your event or venue, whether you require my assistance for playback on-site (extra charge as detailed here for events only) what software licences you need and any Performing Rights Society Public Performance Licence you need for your events or venue (commercial only).
Find out more detail about the tools used and how your 100% handcrafted playlists are curated, kept private and delivered, I can help licence and assist with playback of your playlists on site. More information about remote collaboration software is here and my pricing is here.
I can assist with all aspects of delivery, playback and licencing to give you one easy-to-pay invoice ensuring royalty fees are paid to artists and your event or venue is correctly and legally licenced. This not only helps you but supports all the artists and people involved in creating the music. Without the music there would be no playlists!
Your event or venue will be classed as domestic or commercial. Depending on that classification the delivery and playback will differ slightly.
Commercial PRS PPL licences are an additional required charge and are quoted by PRS, determined by your commercial event or venue attendees, type of event or venue and number of relay stations (speakers in the majority of cases). I can liaise with PRS on behalf of clients.
These diagrams detail how your playlists can be played legally at your event or venue.
Licences are required for Spotify. Additionally, for commercial events and venues, Soundtrack Your Brand and a Performing Rights Society Public Performance Licence, now known as The Music Licence are also required.
Spotify is the music streaming service used for the majority of the playlisting journey. A free account is the minimum but a premium account is recommended at the client’s cost as it an account that contains personal data.
Soundtrack Your Brand is easier thought of as ‘Spotify for Business’. It permits importing of Spotify playlists and rebuilds them using Soundtrack Your Brand’s library. There are rare occasions where Soundtrack Your Brand’s library does not contain a track that is contained in Spotify’s library. I make bespoke substitutions when this happens. Soundtrack Your Brand permits legal playback in commercial environments. Subscriptions can be made direct by clients for complete ownership or I can assist with the addition of playback zones by me – ideal if you would like your playlists rotated and/or refreshed. Each zone costs £49 per month in the UK.
Commercial events and venues require a Public Performance Licence from the Performing Rights Society. This licence is sized according to type of event (one off or recurring) or venue category. The licence also takes into account the number of relay stations (speakers) and anticipated number of attendees. I work with PRS to determine the correct licence and assist clients gaining the correct licence in advance. This licence is required addition to a Soundtrack Your Brand licence.
From the PRS website, “Under The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, permission is needed from the relevant copyright holders – those people who create music – in order to play or perform music in public. Obtaining TheMusicLicence gives you this permission, in relation to the vast majority of commercially available music. This ranges from grassroots and independent artists and composers through to the biggest names in the business.”
A typical one day event with <500 attendees and one main stage costs approximately £100. The tariffs are all published on the PRS website, see the button link below.
All playlists are created and curated in Spotify and shared with customers for collaborative working, auditioning, agreement, approval and playback – playback is only available for domestic events and venues.
All playlists start in Spotify. Clients need a free account at the minimum but preferably a premium subscription. This currently £9.99 per month in the UK.
Playlists are private to customers. Whilst the URL is shared, the playlists are hidden from anyone without the URL and cannot be discovered by search engines or Spotify search facilities.
At the end of the playlisting journey all playlists are handed over to the customer and removed from the HumanPlaylistr profile. They can be recovered within 14 days of deletion if needed. Client playlists are not cross-pollinated – they are unique to each customer although some tracks may be used more than once.
All commercial playlists must be transferred to the commercial playback service Soundtrack Your Brand for playback on-site.
Import bespoke playlists from Spotify. On the rare occasion a track exists in Spotify but not in Soundtrack Your Brand, a suitable substitute will be included. All Soundtrack Your Brand playlists are checked to match the agreed Spotify playlists.
All commercial royalties are paid through a monthly subscription of £49, a cost borne by the client. This ensures royalties are legally and correctly paid, noting the requirement for additional PRS PPL licence(s).
Clients can take on their own subscription of Soundtrack Your Brand in order to enable remote curation and refresh of playlists (additional charge, POA). Soundtrack Your Brand permits up to 10 playback zones (locations) each at £49 per month, before requesting contact with Soundtrack Your Brand for an enterprise account.
I can be contracted for remote refresh of commercial playlists on an ongoing basis. I will manage playback zones, assist with device procurement and integration with any on-site sound systems.
In the event I cannot assist with on-site sound systems, I have a number of contacts in the AV installation arena I can signpost clients towards.
How I connect to your sound systems for one-off requirements or how you deploy your playlists long-term with remote curation.
For Spotify playback at domestic events and venues, any device with Spotify can be used (laptop, mobile, iOS or Windows). For Soundtrack Your Brand playback at commercial events and venues, an iOS mobile device is required for playback. I will provide devices for one-off playback if on-site attendance is required.
Both Spotify and Soundtrack Your Brand can utilise offline playback provided the playback devices have downloaded the playlists prior to use where connectivity is available. This is helpful in areas with poor connectivity. I will provide a mobile hotspot for on-site connectivity where possible as playback can be controlled from a different device (laptop or mobile) thus leaving the device being used for playback solely for sound source.
Playlists will always be handed over to you as a customer. They are your playlists once the journey is complete. Even if I attend on-site, I will ensure playlists are handed over via Spotify or Soundtrack Your Brand and I can assist with creating your own accounts. You can use the playlists, your own devices and subscriptions without any further commitment to HumanPlaylistr.
If attending on-site as a one-off, I will provide all devices, cables, licenses and as many adapters as I can carry! I also have mobile rechargeable bluetooth receivers for sound rigs that are difficult to access. Ideally I will either assess your venue or speak to your hired sound technicians prior to the date of playback.
There are multiple ways to integrate a sound source into your systems. If attending on-site I require either a 3.5mm stereo input, a 6.25 inch stereo input or stereo (red and white) RCA (also known as phono) input. I have adapters for male and female connections. Get in touch with your requirements and I can assess what’s required both for one-off attendance or deployment of your own devices.
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