Why isn’t there any music played in Costco stores?

Detailed summary

The Costco shopping experience is one that many people enjoy. But why is there no music?

I’m a Costco disciple. I can spend an hour or more wandering the aisles, buying quantities of things I didn’t know I needed and availing myself of a variety of food samples before having my traditional $1.50 hot dog and drink after checkout. It’s my happy place.

I do have one complaint: Costco stores are sonically sterile. There’s never any music playing. However, there’s a very good reason for this.

When a place of business plays music, it requires a performing rights licence. The rationale is that if you’re using an artist’s labour as part of your business, i.e. creating an entertainment environment for your clients, artists should be compensated. Playing music in a store, office, garage, club, arena, stadium, amusement park or any other place of business is no different from a song that’s played on a radio station, aired on TV or streamed via a platform like Spotify. Music is NOT free nor should it be. Artists have to be paid for the value of their talents.

Fitness and dance classes must also pay for the privilege of playing music that pumps up clients. The annual fee is determined by the average weekly attendance multiplied by a negotiated rate per attendee. The same thing goes for your gym.

There’s also a special licence for things like fireworks displays set to music, although that’s a bit tricky if the event is public. But if it’s a ticketed show, then SOCAN asks for a small percentage, usually less than 1 per cent of gross ticket sales. A flat minimum fee can also be negotiated.

Restaurants are also required to pay under something called Tariff 15.A. This covers all recorded music played in the establishment, whether it comes from a central sound system, a streaming service or TVs that might be showing sporting events. How much does it cost? It depends on the square footage of the restaurant. The minimum fee usually runs between $100 and $200. Peanuts, really.

Things change if there’s live entertainment, which is where Tariff 3.A comes in.

What about the music…

Opening of the article, excerpted from Global News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.