If you use music in any public situation, you need to obtain a licence from SOCAN and pay the appropriate tariff as set by the Copyright Board.

Turning on the radio or buying a CD or other recording only gives you the right to listen to it in private. Public use is subject to copyright law and is therefore subject to SOCAN licensing.

ADTEL's music libraries and three sound effects collections are fully licensed. SOCAN Performance fees & Copyright fees are detailed below.

You may view ADTEL's SOCAN certification if you wish.

Music for Telephone Hold

Using CDs, DVDs, tapes, or the radio for telephone hold is licensable under tariff 15B and therefore your business is required to pay an annual base fee of $94.51 for the first trunk line plus $2.09 for each additional trunk line in use. Through your ADTEL subscription, the SOCAN performance fee is only $2.80 per month.

If a background music supplier or on hold production company provides your music on hold, it is their responsibility to obtain licensing under tariff 16 and submit the monthly performance fees to SOCAN on your behalf. For your protection, always ask your music supplier for their SOCAN licence number.

A brief introduction to copyright law: A copyright is made up of a variety of different rights, and the performing rights that SOCAN administers is only one part of that copyright.

The Canadian Copyright Act recognizes three main rights:

To Copy
The right to produce or copy the musical work (such as sheet music).

To Reproduce
The right to reproduce the musical work, including mechanical rights (such as cassette and digital audio reproductions) and synchronization rights (such as music in films, videos, and multimedia productions). (These fees are included as part of your ADTEL subscription.)

To Perform Performing rights, which are the rights to perform a work in public (such as a live concert, a recording or any other type of public performance) and the right to communicate to the public by telecommunication (eg: a broadcast).

SOCAN deals with performing rights and only the performing rights. All other rights are handled by the copyright owners or by other organizations. Copyright fees are included in the cost of all ADTEL subscriptions. Please make sure that your music provider has paid all of the necessary copyright fees.

The performing right gives copyright owners of musical works (lyricists, composers, songwriters) the sole right to perform in public (in concert or in a club, etc.) or communicate by telecommunication (broadcast on television or radio) their works. Only they can assign their performing rights to authorize others to do so; in return for payment, SOCAN administers these performing rights in musical works on behalf of its members.

SOCAN provides an easy link between the music and the music user by administering the process for the legal use of copyrighted music