On hold music, as the term suggests, is the music that is played while callers are on hold. The music could be mainstream music or music produced for the company for phone advertising. This music is important because between 16% and 20% of callers make a purchase depending on the offer they hear on hold according to Maxi Marketing, making phone advertising an effective marketing tool. Music prevents boredom which in turn reduces the call abandonment rate.
When buying on hold music, ensure that it is fully licensed for use by your business. Note that playing unlicensed music will result in hefty fines due to infringement of copyright laws. The current out of court settlement for this crime is $1,500. You will need a digital player to play the music. The player will help with such tasks as phone line equalization. You could buy custom on hold music. This is one of the better options since you get to control content, the music genre, and the hold time. Most companies get this music from companies specializing in on hold marketing.
The music to use for on hold marketing should not come from the radio or commercial CD’s or MP3 containing the music. You would need to license the music radio stations play, since these stations have the right to broadcast the music, but the right to re-broadcast it does not belong to them. You could buy your music from subscription music sources. You could get subscription music if you have cable TV service since this is the mode of delivery. Subscription music sources enable you to use the special music services, but often don’t provide any custom advertising for your business. These music channels can be re-broadcast with no piracy concerns.
You could buy royalty free music as your on hold music. This music is available over the Internet in office supply stores. This is one of the cheapest sources of this type of music, but note that it might be a bit humdrum. Most businesses prefer custom on hold marketing. Using an adapter that helps connect a digital player and input source of your telephone, load the music or custom on-hold program by copying the files (or dragging them to the digital player), or by having the player shipped pre-loaded with your program.
