APPENDIX B
Music & Copyright Cheat Sheet
The PROs, the one rule everyone gets wrong, and how to legally put music in your content. Distilled from Chapters 20 and 31.
You work in a room full of music, so you’ll brush against music copyright constantly — and there is one specific misunderstanding that trips up nearly every bartender-creator. This card clears it up and gives you the safe, legal ways to use music in your posts. As always: a plain-language map, not legal advice.
The One Rule That Trips Everyone Up The bar’s music license lets the venue play music for customers. It does not give you any right to use that recorded music in your online posts. Those are two entirely different rights, under two different bodies of law. Never assume that because the bar can play a song, you can post it. |
The Four PROs (Performance Rights Organizations)
PROs license the public performance of songwriters’ and publishers’ work. Your bar pays them so that live bands, the jukebox, and playlists can legally be played inside the venue. This has nothing to do with your posts — it’s the venue’s cost of playing music in the room.
PRO | What it licenses |
|---|---|
ASCAP | Public performance of its members’ songs (songwriters & publishers) |
BMI | Public performance of its members’ songs — the other large U.S. PRO |
SESAC | Public performance for its (invitation-only) catalog |
GMR | Public performance for its catalog — the newest of the four |
Most bars license all four so they’re covered no matter which PRO controls a given song. Again: this covers playing music in the venue — not your content.
What the Bar’s License Covers — and Doesn’t
The venue’s PRO license COVERS | It does NOT cover |
|---|---|
Live bands performing in the venue | Using recorded music in your videos or posts |
The jukebox and in-house playlists | Syncing a copyrighted track to your content |
Music played for customers in the room | Any online, recorded, or downloadable use |
How to Use Music in Your Content — Legally
Use the platform’s licensed-audio library. TikTok, Instagram, and others provide catalogs of music pre-cleared for creator use — this is the single easiest safe path.
Mind the commercial-account limit. Business or commercial accounts usually get a smaller cleared library than personal ones. Since you’re promoting a business, this matters — check what your account type is actually allowed to use.
Understand ’sync.’ Setting recorded music to video is a synchronization use — a separate license most creators can’t easily get on their own. The platform libraries exist precisely to solve this for you.
Use royalty-free or properly licensed libraries for anything outside the platform’s built-in music.
Never rip a copyrighted track into a post and hope. That’s the exact move that gets content muted, taken down, or worse.
Filming Live Music at the Bar
Two permissions are in play at once: the performers’ rights (their performance and likeness) and the underlying song’s copyright.
Get the band’s OK to film and post them — as a matter of both law and good relationships.
Covers still implicate the songwriter. A band covering a copyrighted hit doesn’t erase the original writer’s rights, so a filmed cover can still be a copyright question online.
Original songs by the band are the band’s to grant — so ask them directly, and you’re on much safer ground.
Quick Decisions
If you want to... | Safe move |
|---|---|
Add background music to a post | Use the platform’s licensed-audio library (mind commercial-account limits) |
Film and post the live band | Get the band’s permission; remember covers still implicate song rights |
Use one specific hit song | You probably can’t clear it — pick a cleared track from the platform library instead |
Score a paid or branded post | Extra caution: commercial use narrows what’s cleared — confirm with the brand and platform |
Not Legal Advice This cheat sheet is a general, plain-language map only, and is not legal advice. Music licensing, copyright, and PRO rules are complex and change over time, and platform terms shift frequently. For any real music-rights question — especially a commercial or paid use — consult a licensed attorney (an intellectual-property or music-law attorney, or your business attorney), and follow each platform’s current music-use terms. |
Put this chapter to work
Continue the lesson with connected resources
The chapter explains the principle. These resources help you practice it, document it, calculate it or train it in the room.
Use the resource that matches the decision in front of you. A tool supports judgment; it does not replace current law, venue policy, qualified professional advice or the person responsible for the operation.