Epidemic Sound sells the same library to everyone. Tonada composes yours.

Read the two licensing pages side by side and they agree on one principle: music owned outright by the supplier, with no collecting society in the chain, needs no society licence at the venue. PPL PRS in the UK says the same from its side: "there are a number of circumstances where you may not need TheMusicLicence", and to "ask for confirmation from your supplier".¹⁶ STIM is more guarded. It does not name Epidemic Sound, says a licence is needed "oavsett om musiken strömmas via en musikleverantör, tv eller radio", and tells venues to read each supplier's terms.¹⁵

Those terms are the difference. Epidemic Sound's legal page lists a General Terms document and the Creator, Pro and Business subscription licences; there is no in-store licence text on it.¹³ The licences that are published are for content, and they say what they don't cover: "No standalone use" of the music "for the purpose of creating a music listening experience", and no use "in any physical products (e.g. in speakers)".¹² Your in-store contract is with a partner, and the paperwork you'd show an inspector is whatever that partner gives you. Tonada's certificate is in your brand's name, lists every track and its clearance, and confirms none of it is registered with any society. Play only Tonada, and an inspection is a hand-over, not a phone call.

Epidemic Sound's catalogue is a fine piece of work: "over 55,000 original tracks",¹ commissioned from independent artists for "USD $2,000–$8,000 per track".¹⁰ It is also, by design, everywhere. The same 55,000 figure appears on the creator plans, the enterprise page and the in-store page;⁵⁷¹ the artists "work with us on a non-exclusive basis", and Epidemic Sound uploads their tracks "to all major music streaming platforms".¹⁰ "Over 40,000 businesses worldwide" play the library in their premises.¹ The track under your customer's favourite YouTube channel can be the track over your till, and over the till next door.

"Isn't royalty-free music generic?" Not Epidemic Sound's, and not Tonada's either; the question is whether it was made for you. Tonada's producers compose every track in-house for venues. On Premium you play from Tonada's adaptive library and the platform shapes each track's energy to your room; on Bespoke a dedicated producer composes a catalogue that belongs only to your brand. Nobody scores a video with it, and nobody plays it next door.

Epidemic Sound's in-store offer is curated: ready-made playlists for retail, restaurants, hotels, gyms and spas,¹ and, in its own customer story, playlists you build yourself by "filtering by mood, genre and BPM".¹¹ Nothing on the in-store pages describes the music changing with the room; the only "Adapt" on the site is a tool that reshapes a track for a video edit.¹

Tonada links live signals (weather feeds, foot-traffic sensors, occupancy data, time of day, season) and shifts energy, tempo and mood to match what's actually happening in the space. A rainy, empty Tuesday afternoon and a packed Saturday sound different without anyone touching the dashboard. Staff can thumbs-up or thumbs-down a track from the app while it plays, and the platform learns. One dashboard runs every location and zone, in the right time zone, automatically.

Every fact a buyer needs before signing is on Epidemic Sound's site except the ones about money and terms. The in-store page has no price, no trial length, no contract term and no cancellation policy; the form says "a member of our team will be in touch" and that your details "may be shared with external partners".³ The partner sets the fee, supplies the hardware, and holds the contract.¹ What Epidemic Sound does publish about its own subscriptions is for content use: the Business plan starts "From $100 per month, billed annually",⁶ and enterprise agreements "have a minimum term of 12 months".⁵

Tonada Premium is €19.99 per zone per month, on the website, in every country. That includes Tonada's adaptive library, the adaptive engine, the apps, Sonos, the dashboard, in-store promotions and new music every week. The trial is 30 days, needs no card, and nothing is charged automatically; it simply expires if you don't continue. Every zone is the same price whether you have one location or two hundred, and the Tonada Player Box, if you need one, is €15 a month.