The guide

Background music without COMPASS or MRSS licences — lawfully, for your venue

In Singapore, playing recorded music at a business normally requires licences from COMPASS (composers and publishers) and MRSS (record labels). MRSS itself lists using royalty-free music among its exemptions. The lawful basis is direct licensing: Tonarch holds the rights in both the works and the recordings, the composer is not a COMPASS member, and the recordings are not MRSS-represented — so the Tonarch repertoire falls outside both. COMPASS administers public-performance rights only for works within its repertoire — works its members assign to it and works of affiliated foreign societies; Tonarch is not a member of COMPASS or any affiliated society and has assigned it no rights, so COMPASS has no basis to collect for the Tonarch repertoire. Under ss. 121 and 151 of the Copyright Act 2021, the copyright in a commercially published sound recording is not infringed by public performance if equitable remuneration is paid to the copyright owner; this certificate is the direct licence that discharges that statutory obligation in respect of the Tonarch repertoire. You remain responsible for obtaining appropriate licences for any non-Tonarch music you play.

What you pay today

Today, playing music in a venue usually means fees to one or more collecting societies:

• COMPASS
• MRSS (Music Rights Singapore)

A Tonarch licence from S$590 / year per location — one predictable fee, anchored to what you pay now.

The legal basis of direct licensing

Collecting-society fees apply to works within those societies' repertoire. When the rightsholder grants a direct licence and the works are registered with no society, no society royalties arise from playing them publicly. That is the model Tonarch operates on.

The inspection scenario

If COMPASS or MRSS asks, you present your Tonarch Licence Certificate — issued to your venue by name and address — with the repertoire annex listing every track and naming the rightsholder, who is a member of neither society.

FAQ

COMPASS says it collects regardless of my other licences — how does that work here?

COMPASS administers public-performance rights only for works within its repertoire — works its members have assigned to it and works of affiliated foreign societies (through reciprocal agreements). Tonarch is not a member of COMPASS or any affiliated society and has assigned it no rights, so the Tonarch repertoire is outside COMPASS's repertoire and there is no basis to collect for it. Keep the certificate and annex on hand as evidence if COMPASS disputes that.

What do I show if I'm asked?

Your Licence Certificate, issued to your venue by name and address, plus the repertoire annex listing every track. Both are delivered the moment you buy and can be printed or shown on screen.

Am I buying files or a right?

You are buying the right to play the listed works publicly in one named location. Files are delivered, but the product is the ongoing right plus the documentation. If the licence ends, the right ends.