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Apple launching ‘Apple Music for Business’ to provide music to retail stores

Apple Music is now partnering with businesses to play music at retail stores. In a partnership with PlayNetwork, businesses can sign up to Apple Music for Business plans and get licensed music to be played in their retail locations with Apple providing human-curated playlists and even custom recommendations matched to the individual store brand.

Businesses can control the music being played using a special iPhone or iPad app. The Wall Street Journal notes the program has been piloted for a while and is now expanding to larger stores.

The consumer licensing terms in mainstream streaming services, like Apple Music or Spotify, do not include provisions for playing music in commercial locations.

The different terms (such licenses cost more money per stream) mean that businesses need to make deals with special providers to get legal in-store music. Both Spotify and Apple have started divisions of their music services to address the retail audience.

The Journal says that the Harrods department store started using Apple Music for Business a few weeks ago.

The deal includes Apple making custom playlists to fit the culture of the store. Harrods will be showing billboards in-store that promote the Apple Music service to customers. Harrods will get an affiliate commission if the signs lead to free trial signups.

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