Crestron points out that streaming services for residential and personal use have been around for roughly a decade in their current form. These services allows the listener to curate their preferred playlists for the home, car, and headphone personal listening. Enter SoundMachine, a firm whose demos have made a big impact on the Crestron dealer and integrator community—especially now that their solution is completely integrated with DM NAX Audio-over-IP.

What SoundMachine Does

Sporting a massive catalog of audio, SoundMachine operates as a strictly B2B (business-to-business) audio platform for streaming in commercial spaces.

“We have about 55 million tracks available,” notes SoundMachine CEO Matteo Luppi. “We allow importing from any music service — Spotify, Apple Music, name it.”

• Users can also access SoundMachine playback controls directly from the Crestron app on Crestron devices, mobile, or tablets.
• Additionally, users can add zones to listening streams for seamless transitions from one area to another while also being able to play multiple streaming sessions throughout a space through the same sound machine subscription.

Why This Is a Big Deal

Crestron notes that streaming music in commercial spaces brings its own set of challenges. In addition to ensuring that all the licensing fees and requirements are fulfilled, there are a host of other factors in the mix. Examples include whether the music the right fit for the business? Does the music match variables such as setting the proper mood for a moment, or mirroring the “vibe” of the time of day? Is the music delivered with a simple interface so that staff can focus on customer service and not fiddle with an app?

It Also Purportedly Makes Licensing Music Easier

That feature Crestron and SoundMachine say that represents a monumental, ongoing effort by the commercial streaming audio company. SoundMachine and Crestron emphasize there are no less than four licensing services in the U.S alone. Each of those licensers the companies explain, ensure that artists and composers are compensated for their work — and Luppi’s legal team works with all of them.

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“If you have a playlist that you like, you can import it onto our platform and then automatically get its license for business in doing so,” says Luppi.

While laws differ wildly across the 60-plus countries in which SoundMachine does business, the company either pays the license on behalf of the client (as is the case in the U.S. and Canada) or it works with the client to ensure any fees are covered.

“Once the customers contract the service with us, they are sort of off the hook from the licensing perspective,” notes Luppi.

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