Options
Which type of hold music suits your brand?
- Royalty-free libraries: professionally produced music cleared for business use, without per-play fees.
- Licensed commercial tracks: familiar music cleared for on-hold use.
- Custom music: composed for your brand. The biggest investment, but distinctive and yours.
- Music with messages: music with short voice updates on wait times, self-service options or offers.
Getting it right
How do you get hold music right?
- Fit your brand and customers: a law firm and a youth retailer need very different sounds.
- Get the levels right: music much louder or quieter than the call is jarring.
- Tell callers about the wait: an expected wait time or position in queue helps more than music alone.
- Check licensing: make sure all music is cleared for on-hold use in each country you operate.
- Refresh it: regular callers tire of the same loop. Review it at least once a year.
Need recorded prompts too? See voice, on-hold and IVR recording.
How to choose
How do you choose a hold music supplier?
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Brief on your brand
Values and customers, not just a genre.
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Listen on a phone line
Music sounds different on a phone line than on speakers.
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Confirm licensing in writing
For every track and every country you use it in.
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Check file formats
They should match your phone system or contact centre platform.
FAQs
Hold music FAQs
Do you need a licence for hold music?
Usually, yes, for commercial music. Royalty-free and custom music avoids per-play fees, but check the licence covers on-hold use in each country.
Does hold music make the wait feel shorter?
The right music, plus updates on the expected wait, generally makes waiting feel shorter than silence or beeps.
How are suppliers ordered on this page?
Suppliers with a paid listing appear first, followed by everyone else. Our page on how suppliers are ordered explains the detail.