Why restaurants need to pay for music

Two French composers were at a cafe concert on the Champs-Elysees one afternoon in 1847 when the orchestra began to play one of their works. They hadn't given permission for their music to be played, even though copyright law was already well established in Paris. When the bill came, the composers refused to pay for their meal.

"Why should we pay when the proprietor uses our music without paying us?" they said and took the matter to the commercial tribunal. They won the case and, with a few symphony-writing buddies, went on to create the world's first rights management organisation for composers and lyricists.

Australia has had its own version of a composers and lyricists membership for 92 years: the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited, or APRA AMCOS to keep things simple.

The restaurant industry has come a long way since the 1800s by embracing fair trade, sustainable practices, organic produce and equal-opportunity employment. It's hard to understand, then, how one of the simple pleasures offered by hospitality businesses – their background music – is not always considered by restaurateurs.

Food and music have been linked for centuries. Writing on the effect of background music in the British Journal of Psychology, Professor Adrian North said, "It's worth putting some time into the selection of specific tracks. Using music to create an ambience that fits the premises will increase sales and encourage customers to return."

Research shows that if you change the music, you can change the taste of wine, chocolate and spices. Slow-tempo music can make diners slow their eating habits. Loud music makes you drink beer faster. Heston Blumenthal even served his dish Sound of the Sea with a side of oceanic noises at The Fat Duck because he proved it made the dish taste "stronger and saltier". Chin Chin Melbourne created a Wall of Art projection space including video and original classical music. You can't imagine Mr Blumenthal or Chin Chin owner Chris Lucas enlisting the musical talents of others without seeking permission from the copyright owners.

The works of songwriters and composers you hear streaming at your favourite restaurant have not been born overnight. APRA AMCOS members can spend years coming up with the bones of a song. They must find someone to perform the song or practise it themselves. They will need to present it to a publisher. They might even end up signing a record deal.

Around 8000 restaurants and cafes already have a licence from APRA AMCOS but many more venues need to come on board. Just as you need a licence to sell liquor, you need a licence from the songwriters, composers and publishers who've created the restaurant's soundtrack to use their works. Both are federal laws and enforceable. Assuming a restaurant plays 1000 songs a week for an annual licence fee of $288, half a cent per song hardly seems unreasonable.

Catherine Giuliano is the director of general licensing for APRA AMCOS. To see whether your restaurant music use needs to be licensed, you can anonymously call APRA AMCOS on 1300 852 388.