Is it okay to play Spotify or YouTube music in a coffee shop?

YouTube and Spotify both restrict the use of content to personal, non-commercial purposes. Photo: Reuters .

YouTube and Spotify are two popular music streaming platforms widely used in Vietnam. Many cafe, restaurant, and business owners still mistakenly believe that paying for a service package grants them the right to publicly play music in their commercial operations.

In fact, both YouTube and Spotify restrict content usage to personal purposes, while Vietnamese law requires businesses to pay royalties when using musical works for their customers.

For Spotify, the "Your Use of the Spotify Service" and "Content and Intellectual Property Rights" sections of the Terms of Service stipulate that the service and content are licensed for personal, non-commercial use. Spotify grants users only limited, non-exclusive, and revocable rights to use the service for personal purposes. Users may not copy, distribute, communicate to the public, or exploit the content in a way not authorized by Spotify or the rights holder.

Therefore, using a Spotify Premium account to play music in stores, cafes, restaurants, hotels, or other business locations serving customers is outside the scope of the personal use license that Spotify grants to users.

Similarly, YouTube (including YouTube Music) states that providing viewing or listening services for commercial or public purposes violates the platform's terms of use. Therefore, the fees paid for YouTube Premium or Spotify Premium are primarily intended to remove ads, enhance the user experience, or unlock additional features. They do not replace copyright obligations when using music in business.

Furthermore, in Vietnam, the use of music in business activities is also governed by the Intellectual Property Law and Decree 17/2023/ND-CP. These regulations require organizations and individuals exploiting musical works in a commercial environment to fulfill their copyright obligations as prescribed.

According to Article 34 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, the business and commercial activities stipulated above include: using published works, sound recordings, and video recordings for commercial purposes in restaurants, cafes, hotels, shops, supermarkets; amusement parks, entertainment venues, shopping malls; fitness clubs, health and beauty salons; karaoke establishments; bars, nightclubs; in aviation, public transport, and other business and commercial activities of a similar nature.

According to Appendix II of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, royalties for the use of musical works in cafes, beverage shops, restaurants, or similar business establishments are calculated using the formula: Annual royalty amount = Basic salary × Adjustment coefficient. From July 1st, the applicable basic salary is 2.53 million VND/month.

Source: https://znews.vn/youtube-spotify-co-cam-mo-nhac-trong-quan-ca-phe-post1656217.html