SONOS in Business / Commercial Use

Hi there, owenj. Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community. We are always happy to encourage discussion about options and best fits. In the case of businesses, the biggest detail to be aware of is the size of the business itself. For instance, I have helped small businesses (coffee shops, etc) set up their Sonos since their business network is pretty simple and akin to a home network. The biggest challenge is when you bring Sonos into a more Enterprise environment. Businesses that span multiple buildings and have physical firewall hardware, certainly create some struggles for Sonos. It's not impossible, but certainly challenging.

That being said, tell us a little more about the network you have at your business. I'm sure the Community will be able to help advise once we get a little more information. Thanks!

Hey Keith, thanks for the reply, the business is a restaurant < 150 m2. Im not very technical but it is a pretty standard network setup I believe

Cjeers

Sounds like you shouldn't have too much of a problem. As I mentioned before the biggest problem in business environments are normally due to firewalls and wireless extenders/access points. If the network is simple, the implementation of Sonos should be the same.

There are multiple ways you could go with Sonos in a business. One common way would be to just use a regular amp and speakers, and use a Sonos Connect to connect to the amplifier. Another way to go would be to buy Sonos speakers and place them throughout the business. If you go this route, you may want to wire your Sonos speakers so that potential wireless interference isn't a problem, since wired connections are preferred over wireless ones when they're present.

And of course, if you're going to allow your customers to use WiFi in your restaurant, make sure it's a different network than your Sonos system... otherwise they could connect and control your Sonos system from their phones!

As far as music services for business... options vary from country to country. With me being in the US, I can't really recommend any services that might work in Australia/NZ. If they're not available directly through Sonos, you would want to make sure that they have some kind of URL that you can use to listen to it through Sonos, then just add it using a Windows/Mac computer as a custom radio station.

Thanks MikeV,

I am leaning towards using SONOS speakers as opposed to the in-ceiling and SONOS Connect option due to the sound quality of the Play 1!

Anyone else around here have any feedback with a Play 1 setup in their shop?

Thanks!

I’ve setup Sonos systems for cafes and the such in Australia and found it to be a very reliable system as long as a dedicated contoller device is used (iPod Touch), letting staff control the system from their own devices has caused a bit of problems in the past.

The other thing to keep in mind is the need to have an Athra(?) licence for using music in a business, don’t just stream Spotify as it’s technically illegal for businesses to do so.

Dan Rutherfurd wrote:

The other thing to keep in mind is the need to have an Athra(?) licence for using music in a business, don’t just stream Spotify as it’s technically illegal for businesses to do so.

Would you need such a license to play music through your Sonos system from a radio station through the Tuned-In app?

Check with your lawyer, but generally in the US, radio stations are for private use, and use in a business is not licensed.

Airgetlam wrote:

Check with your lawyer, but generally in the US, radio stations are for private use, and use in a business is not licensed.

It appears that the main thing is whether or not the source is licensed by the FCC. Which means they're paying the associated licensing fees. There are other limitations. But, from what I can ascertain from this article I could use a Sonos to broadcast a radio station in a small business that meets the criteria mentioned.

https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2015/07/articles/does-a-local-business-need-licenses-from-ascap-bmi-and-sesac-to-play-my-radio-or-tv-station-on-their-premises/