How is restaurant occupancy counted for a music license?

Both ASCAP and BMI use your legal occupancy from the fire or building code. Where there isn't one, both divide the total square footage of the premises by 20.

Is it illegal to play music in a restaurant without a license?

Playing recorded music where customers can hear it is a public performance, and US copyright law gives that right to the copyright owner (17 U.S.C. §106(4)). So a business needs permission — in practice, licenses from the performing rights organizations — unless an exemption applies. The main one, §110(5)(B), covers relaying radio and TV broadcasts under set conditions; it does not cover CDs, downloads or streaming playlists.

Does the radio exemption make the fees go away?

Only for a radio or TV broadcast, and only if every §110(5)(B) condition is met: the size or equipment limits, no charge to listen, no retransmission beyond the premises, and a licensed broadcast. Music you choose yourself — a playlist, a CD, a streaming account — is outside it, and that is what the $4.69 and $4.10 lines charge for.

Do SESAC and GMR charge restaurants too?

They can. Each represents its own songwriters, and a venue playing their songs needs their permission as well. Neither publishes a rate card for general businesses; both quote on request.

How Much Does a Music License Cost for a Restaurant? (2026)

For a restaurant, bar or café playing recorded music, the two largest performing rights organizations charge their minimum until the room gets big: ASCAP $502 a year (2026) and BMI $550 (its current rate card). That is $1,052 for a venue of up to 107 occupants. Above that, ASCAP charges $4.69 a head and BMI $4.10. SESAC and GMR quote privately.

Most pages on this question quote numbers without saying where they came from, and several quote BMI's 2025 figures, which BMI has since replaced. Everything below is read from the organizations' own documents, each linked where it's used, and the calculator does the arithmetic the rate cards ask for.

Legal occupancy	ASCAP (2026)	BMI (current card)	ASCAP + BMI
50	$502 (minimum)	$550 (minimum)	$1,052
100	$502 (minimum)	$550 (minimum)	$1,052
150	$703.50	$615.00	$1,318.50
300	$1,407.00	$1,230.00	$2,637.00

What ASCAP and BMI would charge — from their own rate cards

Count occupancy by legal occupancy square footage

Legal occupancy (fire or building code)people

ASCAP	the $502 minimum applies · ASCAP, calendar year 2026	$502
BMI	the $550 minimum applies · BMI rate card, as published in 2026	$550
SESAC, GMR	no public rate card — quote on request	not published
ASCAP + BMI	a year, before discounts	$1,052

Recorded music only: live music, DJs, karaoke, TV and jukeboxes are priced on other lines. BMI's card prints no effective date or cap; these are its figures as published on bmi.com in 2026. An estimate from published rate cards, not a quote — your licensor sets the final figure.

What does ASCAP charge a restaurant?

ASCAP's 2026 schedule for restaurants, bars and nightclubs prices recorded music per occupant. For a venue with no live music the line reads "If Live Music is not used … $4.69", and the fee is that rate times your occupancy "or $502.00, whichever is higher". Occupancy is capped at 1,000, so recorded music alone tops out at $4,690 a year.

The same schedule offers 10% off for paying a year in full on time, or 15% for two years. Seasonal businesses open four months or less pay half the annual fee, and never less than $502. From 2027 the fees move with the Consumer Price Index.

What does BMI charge?

BMI's current rate card for eating and drinking establishments lists recorded music at $4.10 per occupant per year, on the line it calls "Interactive/Other". BMI's licence terms define that as recorded music not performed by a DJ or as karaoke, including music played by "streaming that is otherwise not licensed". The minimum for recorded music is $550.

Two things the card doesn't say. It prints no effective date, so these are BMI's figures as published on bmi.com in 2026; BMI says it writes to existing licensees at least 30 days before any fee change. And it prints no occupancy cap or maximum fee, where BMI's older form capped both. That older form, dated February 2025 with $3.90 and a $485 minimum, is still online, which is why other pages still quote those numbers.

What about SESAC and GMR?

Both license the songwriters they represent, and neither publishes a rate card for general businesses. SESAC's licensing FAQ says fees "are determined by relevant industry criteria that a licensing representative can walk you through"; GMR's says they "depend upon your type of business and how the music is presented to the public". Both quote on request.

How is occupancy counted?

Both ASCAP and BMI start from your legal occupancy — the figure from the fire or building code. If you don't have one, both use the total square footage of the premises divided by 20. Count patio or sidewalk seating you serve: for licensing purposes, as in the statute, the space includes adjoining outdoor areas used for patrons.

What if I only play the radio?

Then you may owe nothing. Section 110(5)(B) of the Copyright Act lets a food service or drinking establishment relay a radio or TV broadcast without a license if it is under 3,750 gross square feet, or larger but within the speaker and screen limits — and if nobody pays to listen, the broadcast isn't retransmitted, and the broadcast itself is licensed. How the radio exemption actually works is a post of its own, with a test you can run against your room.

It covers the broadcast only. A playlist, a CD or a streaming account through the same speakers is outside it. For a venue that plays only radio or TV but is outside the exemption, both organizations have a separate line: $1.77 per occupant, with ASCAP's $502 minimum or BMI's $485.

Shops pay differently

Retail is priced by the room, not by the head. ASCAP's 2026 retail schedule charges a single store $324 a year for audio through up to three speakers, plus $67 for each additional speaker, to a maximum of $2,715. BMI's 2026 retail schedule prices by square footage, from $311.71 for 2,000 square feet or less to $2,658.31 above 17,500. The calculator's Shop tab does both.

What these licenses don't cover

Everything above is recorded music. Live music, DJs and karaoke sit on higher lines of the same schedules, and ASCAP adds a fee for a coin-operated jukebox. A performance license also doesn't let you put music in a video or an ad; that is a different right, covered in what each organization actually licenses.

Three honest routes

License the organizations. The figures above, plus quotes from SESAC and GMR if your music includes their songwriters.
The radio route, if your room and your use genuinely fit §110(5)(B). It covers broadcasts only.
A service whose catalog carries the right with it. Some services own or license the music they supply and pass on the permission to play it in your space. Puana is one: it owns its catalog, so it grants the public-performance right for its own music directly. That covers that service's music only — a TV, a live band or a jukebox still needs its own cover — and it lasts as long as the subscription, for each location registered.

Sources

ASCAP, Restaurants, Bars, Nightclubs and Similar Establishments: Rate Schedule for Calendar Year 2026 (PDF); Retail Store: 2026 Rate Schedule (PDF).
BMI, Fee Calculation Formula Per Location, eating and drinking establishments (PDF); Music License for Retail Establishments, 2026 License Fee Schedule (PDF).
17 U.S.C. §110(5) and §101, uscode.house.gov, text in effect September 10, 2026.
All retrieved September 11, 2026. The calculator rounds a square-footage occupancy up to a whole person; your licensor may round differently.