How We Chose Background Music for the Client Area at Villo Studio

The studio has a meeting room and a client waiting area. Until recently, we played music there from YouTube — until we found out it’s illegal and carries a fine of up to 5 million rubles. Here’s how we closed the issue in a single evening.

At Villo Studio, up to 20 people pass by the meeting room in a day: clients discussing scripts, editors showing rough cuts, hosts prepping for a recording. There’s always background music playing in that area — so there’s no dead silence, and so neighboring rooms don’t hear conversations through the wall.

Until recently, we were just running a regular playlist on YouTube. Most studios and cafés do this. And you’re not supposed to.

Why YouTube in a studio is a violation

YouTube’s terms of service prohibit public playback of content in commercial spaces. Under Russian Civil Code Article 1301, compensation for this kind of violation ranges from 10,000 to 5,000,000 rubles per track.

Inspections at studios, cafés, and salons in Russia are becoming routine — they typically come around once every 2–3 years and record what’s playing. After the inspection, a letter arrives from RAO’s (Russian Authors’ Society) lawyers with a report and a claim.

There are two alternatives: buy a license through RAO (that’s thousands of rubles a month plus separate tracking of every track) or subscribe to a service with its own legal catalog.

What we settled on

We connected Harmonia — a B2B background music service. A few reasons why:

• A catalog of 6,000+ AI-generated tracks, with Harmonia itself holding the rights. No royalty payments to RAO or VOIS are needed: these tracks aren’t part of their repertoire. Once a year RAO sends a request — we send a certificate, and that’s it.
• A subscription of 990 ₽ per month for one location. Two to three times cheaper than any RAO license.
• The player runs on a TV box in our waiting area and switches automatically on a schedule: more upbeat in the morning, calmer in the evening.
• The catalog has a dedicated section for venues with guests — it worked perfectly for our meeting room.

Advice for studios, cafés, and salons

If music is playing in your lobby or waiting area, check where it’s coming from. YouTube and Spotify Personal don’t qualify — you risk a fine. The minimum safe option is a subscription to a service with its own legal catalog.

Harmonia is one such service, with a 3-day free trial so you can see whether the playlists work for you.