About licences

Music would not exist without the work of performers and producers.
Through responsible use of music, you ensure that it can continue to delight, create experiences and contribute to well-being.

Licence ensures remuneration to professionals

Gramex serves companies and organisations that use music by making the use productive, easy and responsible. We represent more than 60,000 music professionals and producers whose phonograms and their licences are available from us.

With a Gramex licence, you can play recordings and music videos on the radio, on TV and at events, for instance. We make sure that all remunerations are paid on time and efficiently to music professionals. Usage based remunerations are paid out four times per calendar year. Everything we do is based on legislation. We are a non-profit organisation.

See our licences

What is a phonogram?

A phonogram is any recording or file that includes audio, including a CD, streamed song, MP3, audio tape or an audio file in computer memory or USB drive. Phonograms are also called music recordings.

What is a music video?

Music video is a visual recording of music that presents a musical composition or part of it.

International licensing

Gramex also sells licences for international use and collects remunerations from abroad. Licences to songs recorded in the countries listed on the map are available for purchase from Gramex. We collect remunerations for Finnish performers and producers from these countries.

If you need licences for television broadcasting and streaming, feel free to browse our selection of songs directly in our phonogram database. For domestic use, our database contains 1.4 million songs from Finland and abroad.

See the list Explore the phonogram database

About Gramex

As a copyright society, Gramex does not decide what type of music use requires a licence. This is governed by law. We take care of selling licences and paying out remunerations within these parameters. Transparency and responsibility are fundamental to our operations. See our rules, our annual review, our statutory transparency report and other governance information.

Please note that…

For some purposes, Gramex’s clients prefer to take care of licensing themselves. These situations include using music in advertising or streaming platforms, such as Spotify or YouTube. For these needs, you can obtain licences from the producer of the phonogram, i.e. the record label.

You also need a licence from Teosto for any use of music.

List of producers Teosto licences

Our most popular licences

TV and streaming

Need music for your TV or streaming programme?

Radio

Read more about the commercial radio licence.

Customer and personnel facilities

For background music licences for customer and personnel facilities, go to musiikkiluvat.fi.

I’m making a video that we are going to play in the annual meeting of our recreational club. I want to use music in my video. Do I need a licence from Gramex?

Turn to Gramex to get a licence for using music in a publicly-presented audiovisual work. The licence is available for purchase at the Gramex online store.

I use music in a video that I’m uploading to YouTube. Do I need a licence from Gramex?

Gramex does not sell licences for using phonograms on YouTube. As a private individual, you can use music in non-commercial videos published on YouTube because most record labels have an agreement with YouTube on using their phonograms. If a record label has not made an agreement and permitted the use of a phonogram, YouTube may block or remove the video. However, if you publish a video on YouTube under a company or community account, you should always obtain a licence for the phonogram directly from the client, typically the record label. You will also need Teosto licences for the music.

I want to play music at my event. Where can I get the music?

You can get the music from any legal source, such as physical recordings or streaming services. Please note that if your event is not a private occasion but for an audience, you need to obtain music licences here.

I want to play music on the radio. Where can I get the music?

You can get the music from any legal source, such as physical recordings or streaming services. Remember that you also need a licence.

When I obtain a licence from Gramex, am I required to report my music use to Gramex?

In principle, reporting the use of music is always required to enable accurate distribution of remunerations. The reporting requirement is, however, determined by the type of licence you have obtained. So please review the agreement terms of your licence. You can find the agreement terms under the ”About the licence” link in each licence card.

I obtained a licence from the Gramex online store. How do I know whether it is still valid?

Once you have accepted the agreement terms and paid for the licence, it is valid for the term specified in the agreement confirmation.

Do you have other questions or concerns?

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Elmo Helokumpu

Key Account Manager

+358 10 248 9213 elmo.helokumpu@gramex.fi