Looking for an alternative to Soundtrack Your Brand?
Updated
The short answer The best alternative to Soundtrack is RadioMatic. The music is made entirely by AI, so you pay no Buma/Stemra and no Sena, and the subscription, from € 29.99 per location per month, is the whole bill.
For comparison Soundtrack costs € 420 per zone a year, and the Buma/Stemra and Sena levy is not included, as Soundtrack itself says on its licensing page. Other providers with a published price are Tunify, Synerplay, My Instore Radio, Backsound, Soundsuit and BusinessMusic.ai.
The best alternative to Soundtrack
- A station of your own. The best music in your business every day, and the station remembers your hits.
- We handle your switch. After your trial we cancel Buma/Stemra, Sena and your old music service for you, free of charge. How the switching service works.
- Just atmosphere music, or a complete business radio. With a presenter who talks about your business between the songs, if you want, and with Professional also news and your own adverts.
- Works on what is already there. Sonos, Chromecast, a browser or the line-in of your amplifier.
- 14 days free. A reply within one working day and live in under ten minutes.
From € 29.99 per location per month. What you now pay Buma/Stemra and Sena goes, and so does your current music subscription.
What is Soundtrack, and what does it cost?
Soundtrack Technologies is a Swedish company that started in 2013 as a joint venture with Spotify. It was called Soundtrack Your Brand and on 4 February 2026 it acquired Belgium’s Tunify and the UK’s Ambie. Both services continue under the Soundtrack name (Music Business Worldwide, 4 February 2026).
The Dutch pricing page carries one subscription. Billed annually, Soundtrack Essential costs € 420 per zone a year. Add-ons such as spoken announcements and more control over the running order are charged per zone on top. No amount is listed for Enterprise (soundtrack.io/nl/pricing, retrieved on 22 September 2026).
Here too the meter runs per zone. A zone is one music stream within a location, so two rooms with different music are two subscriptions. If you run a restaurant with a terrace that needs different music, you pay € 840 a year rather than € 420, billed annually. At RadioMatic you pay per location, so a terrace with different music is not a second subscription.
The Tunify pricing page is still online separately for now, with its own amounts. Billed annually, Simple costs € 269.88 per zone a year there and Premium € 509.88. That build-up is set out under what Tunify costs.
Are Buma and Sena included in the Soundtrack price?
No. On its licensing page for the Netherlands Soundtrack puts it in three lines. Recording rights are included in your subscription, copyright is included, and performing rights are not. "In the Netherlands almost everything you need is included in your Soundtrack subscription, except a public performance licence," it says, pointing to Mijn Licentie. The comparison table on the pricing page says the same, namely that performing rights licences must be bought separately.
That is not down to Soundtrack. Music by human authors carries a payment to Buma/Stemra and Sena whoever supplies the stream. No supplier can remove that obligation. Mijnlicentie, the joint collection office of both organisations, sets out when it applies.
How much that is depends on your sector and your floor area. In 2026 a shop up to 100 m² pays € 466 a year, hospitality of the same size € 1,952. The tables by sector are on music licence costs, the build-up for shops under music in shops. Work out your own situation in the calculator below.
For an 80 m² café that means € 420 of subscription and € 1,952 of levies. The levies are almost five times the subscription. That is why comparing two subscriptions without that second item says very little.
Which alternatives are there, and what do they cost?
With most providers of well-known music you pay a subscription, and Buma/Stemra and Sena come on top. They say so themselves. Tunify starts at € 269.88 per zone a year. Synerplay, My Instore Radio, Backsound and Soundsuit also work with a subscription. Mood Media works on quotation, see what Mood Media costs. Work out below what Buma/Stemra and Sena cost for your business.
BusinessMusic.ai supplies AI music from € 191.88 a year and says the collecting society fees are included. With RadioMatic you pay from € 29.99 per location per month, with no Buma/Stemra and no Sena. Other routes are covered under music without Buma and Sena. More providers are listed in the background music buyer's guide.
What should you ask before you switch?
Work out one annual figure per provider. Monthly amount times twelve, times the number of zones or locations, plus the annual payment to Buma/Stemra and Sena for your sector and floor area. With Soundtrack, count in the add-ons you need, because spoken announcements and free running order are not part of Essential.
Ask three questions while you do. Does the provider charge per zone or per location? Are the levies included, and if so, can they show that a licence with Sena has been taken out for your business? And why would nothing be due? Because the provider pays and passes on the cost, or because there is no human author.
Look at the equipment you need and at the notice period too. Some providers supply a player or a PC and price that in. Others run on what you already have. Ask for the answers on paper. If an invoice does arrive, it lands with you and not with your supplier.
Sources: soundtrack.io/nl/pricing, Soundtrack on music licensing in the Netherlands, Music Business Worldwide on the acquisition, tunify.com/nl/prijzen, Synerplay, My Instore Radio, Backsound, Soundsuit, BusinessMusic.ai, Mood Media and Mijnlicentie. Prices as the providers publish them themselves, retrieved on 22 September 2026. Levies: Buma/Stemra and Sena, tariff year 2026, base rates per year, Sena including the RAAP-PPI surcharge. We do not describe their service and compare only on published amounts, on per zone or per location, and on whether the levies are included. Also used bumastemra.nl, ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2025:6175.
Work out what you save
Three questions, and you see what you now spend on Buma/Stemra, Sena and your music service.
What kind of business do you have?
What RadioMatic does differently
RadioMatic charges per location. A terrace with different music is not a second subscription. Starter costs € 29.99 per location per month, excluding VAT. Paying monthly is 20% more, and you can then cancel monthly. 14 days free to try. DJ moments that talk about your business are included as standard. Your own offers and jingles between the tracks and local news on the hour come with Professional, € 79.99 per location per month. Each site can have its own atmosphere, set from a single dashboard.
It plays on what you already have, such as Sonos, Chromecast, a browser or an amplifier over line-in. No new hardware is needed.
The music is generated entirely by AI. There is no composer and no lyricist, and Buma/Stemra writes itself that works made entirely by AI without human creative input do not qualify for registration, copyright or payment. There is no performing artist either. So nothing is due to Sena either, as we set out in our legal memorandum. For Sena the basis is the Neighbouring Rights Act, which in articles 1 and 7 requires a phonogram released for commercial purposes. Music made for one station and streamed only to that station is not released. On exactly that ground Sena lost a claim before the Gelderland district court in July 2025 (ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2025:6175). What each plan gets you is on the pricing page.
Read the legal reasoningWhy RadioMatic is something other than a playlist or the radio
A business owner who wants music on the premises usually picks from three things. A playlist from a streaming service, an ordinary radio station, or a royalty-free music package. This is where they differ.
| Playlist | Ordinary radio | Royalty-free | RadioMatic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New music | Fixed list | Yes, but not your choice | Limited catalogue | New every day |
| Music that is yours alone | No | No | No | Yes, your own hits |
| Fits the time of day | Switch it yourself | No | Switch it yourself | Automatic |
| Names your business | No | No | No | Yes |
| Your own offers | No | Only if you buy advertising | No | Yes, with Professional, no studio |
| Local news and weather | No | Yes, the station’s | No | Yes, with Professional, your town |
| Other people’s adverts | No | Yes | No | No |
| Several locations | Set up per location | No | Set up per location | Yes, from one place, each with its own mood |
| Buma/Stemra and Sena | Payable | Payable | See the terms | Not payable |
Questions about Soundtrack and alternatives
Further reading
- What does Tunify (now Soundtrack) cost?The published tariffs, and why the levies still come on top.
- Looking for an alternative to Tunify?What Tunify costs, which other providers there are, and the bill people forget when comparing.
- Switching? We cancel your old music for youWith every paid plan we cancel Buma/Stemra, Sena and your current music service for you, free of charge.
- AI music for business, the providers comparedWhat the providers of AI music for business offer and cost, side by side.
Ready to hear it for yourself?
Try RadioMatic free for 14 days. Your own station for your business, without Buma/Stemra and Sena, and cancel monthly if you pay monthly.
Rather talk first? Book a 15-minute call