Funeral homes that belong to any funeral service trade or professional organization such as NFDA, NFDMA, CANA, SIFH, OGR, or a state funeral directors association can purchase a blanket music performance license from NFDA for $350 for 2026. The music performance license covers all songs in the ASCAP, BMI and SESAC libraries. This is the LOWEST price available to funeral homes. Additionally, NFDA offers licensing from GMR and AllTrack.

The fee is to pay for a license that permits the funeral home to play music that is contained in the catalogs of the participating music licensing organizations performed on its premises or wherever it holds funeral services, whether it is performed live or from recorded music. Without a license, a funeral home that allows music to be performed at its facility commits a violation of federal copyright law which is punishable by up to $30,000 or more if the violation is deemed to be intentional and potentially even more in damages to the copyright holder.

You need three licenses. The music performance license is granted to a funeral home location. Since you have three funeral home locations, you need three licenses.

Each funeral home business must have its own music performance license. The two funeral home businesses may not share a license.

Funeral homes holding the NFDA music performance license are authorized to have music performed at any place where funeral services are conducted by the funeral home. This would include gravesites, schools, auditoriums, outside parks, private residences, and anywhere else where a visitation, funeral, or memorial service is held.

No, but it does cover all of the songs in the vast music libraries of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Those three organizations license over 90% of all copyrighted songs. Additionally, there are two newer music licensing organizations Global Music Rights (“GMR”) and AllTrack with whom NFDA has negotiated additional licenses which can be purchased by NFDA and FAMIC association members for additional fees. These two new licensing organizations have focused on signing up more contemporary artists. A list of the artist who are licensed with GMR and AllTrack can be found at globalmusicrights.com/search and alltrack.com/repertory/, respectively. Remember, if a song is in one of the participating music licensing organization’s catalogs it may be played live. However, if you are playing a recorded piece of music, you must make sure that that specific performance by that specific artist is in the catalog. For example, if there is a recording of “Song 1” by Artist A in the catalog of one of the participating music licensing organizations, but the recording by Artist B is not in any of the catalogs of the participating music licensing organizations, you may play Song 1 live or the recording of Song 1 by Artist A, but you may NOT play the recording of Song 1 by Artist B.

Yes. It does not matter who performs the music or who arranges to have the music performed. The license is required by the operator of the business in which the music is performed.

No. Music subscription services like Pandora, Spotify, Apple, Sirius, and Amazon Music allow subscribers to play music for their own personal use, but not as part of a commercial performance. Their terms of service explicitly prohibit using their platforms for public performances..

Yes. While neither Spotify nor Pandora provides a music performance license to allow a business to play music for the public, there is a company called Soundtracks which is sort of a Pandora/Spotify for businesses.  For an annual fee that is substantially more than the annual fee for the NFDA music license, Soundtrack provides up to 300 ready-made soundtracks that a business may play in its facility for the public.  Examples of businesses using Soundtrack include bars, restaurants, clothing retailers, etc. It also allows a subscriber to create customized soundtracks.  However, there does not appear to be a feature which would allow a business to play a particular song at any specific time (like a funeral when the family wants a particular song).  It is also not clear how many songs are under license to Soundtrack. In addition, Soundtrack would not give a funeral home a license to have music performed at the funeral home, church or gravesite by a live artist. Therefore, it is doubtful that a Soundtrack subscription could adequately replace the NFDA music license with these limitations.

Yes, but that covers only music played over the radio and television. The exemption also applies only to retailers with a building less than 2,000 square feet in size. Therefore, even if a funeral home fell below the 2,000 square foot restriction, the exemption only applies to music played over the radio or television. It would not cover music performed live or via recorded means.

If the funeral home only permits music to be performed at a religious service that is conducted by a member of the clergy, then a music performance license may not be required. If music is performed at any other time, the license is necessary. Therefore, without a license, a funeral home could only permit music to be performed during funeral services presided over by clergy. The performance of music at any other time or place would place the funeral home in violation of federal copyright law.

• For each song that is performed without a license, damages are set by federal statute at a range of $750 to $30,000. However, if the jury finds that the infringement was “willful,” the damages can be increased up to $150,000 per song. In addition, an infringer who loses the lawsuit will have to pay the attorney’s fees of the plaintiff.
• Because a violation occurs for each song that is played without a license, the damages in copyright infringement cases can mount up very quickly. In a 2002 lawsuit brought by SESAC against a Pittsburgh area radio station that did not have a SESAC license, a jury awarded $1.2 million because the radio station had played 31 songs from the SESAC library. The award climbed into seven figures because the jury had found that the radio station’s infringement was willful. On top of the $1.2 million verdict, the defendant also had to pay SESAC’s attorney fees which totaled nearly $500,000.
• In 2024 alone, violators were forced to pay $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments, with average image infringement cases settling for around $45,000.

• The statute of limitations for copyright infringement is three years. Therefore, liability for performing a song without a license will only go back three years from the date the lawsuit is filed.
• In most lawsuits brought by the licensing companies, they will use investigators to compile the list of songs performed without a license.

• Of the major music licensing organizations, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, and AllTrack, ASCAP has about 8 million songs in its library, BMI has 6.5 million songs, SESAC has 1.5 million songs, and GMR and AllTrack have significantly less. The rights to the songs are held by the songwriters or other copyright holders who authorize the music licensing organizations to represent them. The music licensing organizations collect fees from license holders who perform the music and distribute the fees to the copyright holders. For example, BMI reports that it has more than 300,000 copyright holders under contract and that the average songwriter earns less than $5,000 annually in royalties paid by BMI.
• One of the major obligations of the music licensing organizations is to maximize licensing fees. In order to do this, they must pursue businesses that perform music without a license. Their primary weapons in this regard are the federal copyright statutes and the penalties they impose.
• In the last several years, the music performance license organizations have engaged in an enforcement campaign against bars and restaurants. After conducting large-scale crackdowns on internet music swapping companies, the organizations have turned their license enforcement actions against brick and mortar establishments. Online enforcement has been bolstered by computer programs that can endlessly and tirelessly scan the internet for infringing content.

Yes. The music licensing organizations have targeted funeral homes through regional and national compliance and enforcement programs. If music is played at a funeral home without a license, the funeral home could face a copyright infringement action.

Yes, the funeral home must have a license if the live streamed funeral ceremonies include the performance of any copyrighted music. NFDA has negotiated a music live streaming license for 2026 of only $350 that covers all of the music libraries of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. NFDA has also negotiated music live streaming licenses with GMR and AllTrack... This license applies to a funeral home’s website so funeral homes with multiple branches will only need one live streaming license as long as all of the branches use the same website for broadcasting live funeral ceremonies..

No. The NFDA music license is a “performance” license that allows music to be performed in person and a live streaming license that allows for music to be live streamed over the internet. In order to record music to a DVD or video, a “synchronization” license is required. BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, GMR, and AllTrack do not offer synchronization licenses. Virtually the only way to obtain a synchronization license is directly from the copyright owner of each song which is to be recorded. This makes it nearly an impossible task for a funeral home to put multiple songs on a tribute DVD or video.

There are two viable options. First, a funeral home may acquire “royalty-free” music on the internet, but you must make sure that it is free to be paid commerically. The other alternative is to play the popular songs requested by the family on the funeral home’s music system from a recording while the DVD or video is playing. As long as the songs are not recorded on to the DVD or video, a synchronization license is not required and the NFDA music performance license allows the funeral home to perform the songs.

While it is true that most songs written before the early part of the Twentieth Century would be in the public domain, that does not mean that every recording of those songs are also in the public domain. For example, the song “Silent Night” may be in the public domain and anyone can perform it and record their own version without a license. However, that does not give a funeral home the right to play “Silent Night” sung by Trisha Yearwood. Trisha Yearwood holds the copyright to her version of “Silent Night” and a funeral home may not play it without a license to do so.