Music on Hold

Music on Hold refers to music played to callers while they are waiting on hold.

Legal Considerations

In many countries (like the United States) it is illegal to use radio station music or commercial music (CDs etc.) without an appropriate license.
Make sure whatever you use for Music on Hold is legal and has a license that clearly allows the intended use. The three major USA music licensing organizations are:

• ASCAP
• BMI
• SESAC

In Australia, the major music licensing organization is APRA/AMCOS.
In most cases the licensing organization will ask for a paid fee which can run quite expensive.
It is advised not to use commercially licensed music as on-hold content as if you are not paying the fees (which are complicated to figure out), you are liable to
be fined hefty amounts in the event you are found to be re-broadcasting content without a license.

Music on Hold etiquette

• The time your caller spends on hold is a lost opportunity to engage the customer – most companies are now utilizing on-hold marketing in order to effectively inform their customers about new products and services.
• Don’t put your caller to sleep with Greensleeves – there are plenty of great royalty-free music tracks for your use available on the internet and in CD archives around the world.
• Don’t start the same loop at the same spot every time – most of the time the caller is put on hold, it will be short, and they will hear the exact same thing a number of times. Make sure to use a stream player or other player (such as mpg123 for Asterisk) which will let the caller ‘tune in’ to the Music on Hold, rather than having the intro sound played every time they are placed on hold.

Free Sources of Music

• StarTel Free Music On Hold: Download Royalty Free Music for your PBX

Paid Sources of Music

• Captivate Global is a leading world-class music on hold provider which offers the only dynamically updating service available today. Solutions for all IP systems provide rich and dynamic content which changes every day in order to make the on-hold experience more engaging. Changes to the productions are made by simply sending a new script, which will be recorded and uploaded to play back on your system at the time you specify. Also specializing in providing standardized on-hold prompts for IVR systems to provide the caller with a uniform experience across all sections of the phone system.

Custom Music on Hold

• Creative Audio Imaging specializes in producing on hold messages for businesses in all industries.

• GO On Hold specializes in telephone on hold message and music recordings for business. No long-term contracts. You own your recording.

Asterisk Information

• Asterisk cmd MusicOnHold
• Asterisk cmd SetMusicOnHold
• Asterisk cmd MP3Player
• How to Replace mpg123 with SoX for MusicOnHold
• mpg123
• Asterisk mpg123 redhat
• Asterisk config musiconhold.conf

See Also

• Wikipedia: Music on Hold