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Music on hold (MOH) is the business practice of playing recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by telephone callers who have been placed on hold. It is especially common in situations involving customer service.
Music on hold is sometimes referred to as phone on hold, message on hold, on hold messaging, or hold music.
Music on hold was created by Alfred Levy, an inventor, factory owner, and entrepreneur. In 1962, Levy discovered a problem with the phone lines at his factory: a loose wire was touching a metal girder on the building. This made the building a giant receiver, so that the audio broadcast signal from a radio station next door would transmit through the loose wire, and could be heard when calls were put on hold. [1] Levy patented his work in 1966. [2] While other advancements have come to change and enhance the technology, it was this initial patent creation that began the evolution for today's music on hold.
Most MOH systems are integrated into a telephone system designed for businesses via an audio jack on the telephone equipment labeled "MOH". There are also some units with built-in message on hold capabilities and units designed for small businesses without an extensive phone system.
Today, equipment that supports physical media usually plays CDs. Some older systems may still use cassette tapes (sometimes employing endless-loops), or reel-to-reel tape players. In each case, the unit loads the media into a digital memory chip to prevent premature wearing of the mechanical parts.
Equipment that supports virtual media generally plays MP3 files. Several types of units play these files. USB flash drive units allow an MP3 file to be received electronically, downloaded to a flash drive and connected to the player. Ethernet based remote load units connect via the network to a remote IP address. Phone line based remote load systems allow for a connection via an analog telephone line and dialing the number belonging to the unit. For VoIP phone systems, MP3s are loaded without any equipment.
Newer technology allows MP3 files to be downloaded automatically from the internet so that messages (or interesting content in the form of news and weather, among many) can be changed daily. The new "online on hold" technology makes the older technology redundant since it requires no additional hardware. All these systems allow analog-to-digital audio storage and playback.
As of 2011 [update] , technology allows productions to be downloaded or streamed via the Internet, or played through a USB flash drive.
Modern wireless telephony relies on lossy audio codecs optimized for spoken voice transmissions, which dramatically reduces the necessary bandwidth at the expense of making any non-spoken content, such as music on hold, sound distorted.
A number of studies have been conducted, which highlight consumer perceptions of music on hold, reinforcing its use by businesses to improve standards of call handling.
A survey of more than 2,000 UK consumers commissioned by audio branding specialist PHMG revealed 70% of consumers are put on hold for more than 50% of their calls. When put on hold, 73% of callers want to hear something other than beeps or silence. [3] [4]
A CNN survey found that 70 percent of callers in the United States who hold the line in silence hang up within 60 seconds. [5] Meanwhile, research by North American Telecom found callers hearing music on hold will stay on the line 30 seconds longer than callers experiencing silence.
The musical source may be as simple as playing a local radio station through the MOH jack. This is unlawful without the express permission of the music title and mechanical copyright holders, or their representatives.
Owners of radio stations will usually air their broadcast signal as music on hold, using their main program signal, if there are several. Examples include RÚV from Iceland using Rás 1 as the on-hold music.
Commercial CDs eliminate the problems encountered with radio commercials, and they offer control over the selection of music; they do not, however, grant proper license for MOH use unless users first obtain permission from the song title copyright owner (when the song is not in the "public domain") and the mechanical copyright owner, or bodies that represent them, such as BMI or ASCAP. (See "Radio," above, for more details.)
CDs are available that have been specifically recorded and licensed for MOH systems. These may contain only music, or may include periodic voice-overs with messages such as "Your call is important" or "Please stay on the line". Such off-the-shelf recordings may be generic or may be specific to individual industries, but will not be customized for individual companies.
In general, custom music on hold allows an organisation to:
CDs (or other MOH formats, such as MP3 files) can be custom-created to suit the particular needs of a business. The announcements can be scripted to emphasize particular attributes of the business such as location, store hours, or special promotions or services. These are typically used for up-selling and cross-selling callers. Companies can either record the messages themselves, or hire a music on hold production company.
A program loaded onto an existing computer and connected to the phone system can allow automatic content updates interspersed with company information.
Streaming MOH refers to a live music on hold stream (URL-based delivery) which can also include custom content. Streaming MOH can also refer to a streaming media server, as with Cisco Unified Call Manager, in which case RTP format is used. [6] In Microsoft Teams Phone, as of June of 2024, streaming music on hold allows you to use a supported streaming service to play music to callers [7] . The streaming partner gives you a URL to add to your TeamsCallingPolicy that is then used to play music. You can configure streaming Music on Hold if you have a subscription with a supported partner, such as Easy On Hold.
Programs available to non-profit organizations at no cost. Very few companies offer absolutely free programs. The programs are available in generic and custom formats, and are delivered at no cost to the requesting organization.
The style of music played by MOH systems depends largely on the type of business offering the service. It is generally best to present music that will not be offensive to the audience, but that would also be of particular interest to the typical caller. A western apparel store may choose to play country music. A Christian book store may choose to play popular Christian music. A university may choose to play classical music. An athletic ticket office may choose to play the team or school's fight song. Light classics, smooth jazz, bossa nova and beautiful music are common choices, as is fully synthesized melodic music.
Among the best known due to its default presence on Cisco CallManager is "Opus Number One" by Tim Carleton and high-school friend Darrick Deel, who recorded it on a four-track tape recorder in 1989. In a YouTube video, Tim mentioned the following on how he created the sound and why the stereo version is not very good:
The reason was that I used an Alesis Midiverb II or III, specifically the 3 tap pan, to hide the fact that I was playing this live on a DX7IIFD and the notes would either cut off when I'd play unison patches and run out of polyphony or when I'd change patches. Solution: Plug it in mono to the midiverb on one side, R8 on the other side, stereo into the tascam, and go.
— Tim Carleton, [8]
Deel went on to work for Cisco in building the company's first VoIP phone. When a need for default on hold music came up, he recalled the track he and Carleton had recorded and reached out to Carleton for approval. [9] [10]
The hold music was later featured in a 2023 Bud Light commercial that aired during Super Bowl LVII. [11] [12]
With the application of newer equipment, MoH devices can now interact with the caller. No additional programs are required on the platform, as all the logic is done with the MoH device. This can include services such as 'polling on hold', rating customer service officer anonymously, etc.[ citation needed ]
The trend toward hosted IP telephony for business phone systems is demanding changes in music on hold message technology. [13]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2021) |
In the US, and other countries where copyright laws are practiced, authors are granted copyright protection on their musical compositions. Such copyright protection has existed since just after the turn of the 20th century, and most music written before 1900–1910 from impressionism back to baroque and antiquity is said to be "in the public domain". Use of any said music prior to the creation of these copyright laws may be presumed to be free for use by all, although individual titles may have been later copyrighted through a change in the composition or arrangement. The use of copyrighted music is not for free use in the public domain.[ citation needed ]
All music written after this period, which is copyrighted under multiple acts of congress, is owned by the author(s) or their assignees. The use of this music is protected and controlled so that the owner may derive usage income. Specific to telephonic MOH (music-on-hold), the US laws currently protect the copyright owners from unlawful, unpermitted use of their music titles in over-the-phone broadcast. [14] Any person or business wishing to use current, popular, post 1900–1910, copyrighted music for MOH purposes may only lawfully do so by obtaining permission from the owner. Currently, performance rights societies such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC will sell blanket permission to use music titles in their catalog for MOH purposes. for an express annual fee, calculated by size and frequency of usage. Failure to obtain this paid permission is a violation of US copyright laws.[ citation needed ]
This same copyright protection is also true in the rebroadcast of any radio program. As mentioned earlier, the broadcaster has been assigned a narrow and specific usage license to air copyrighted song titles. This does not include permission to any person or business to re-broadcast that program on telephonic MOH. The broadcaster may not promote such unlawful use and is not an owner who has any lawful right to grant MOH usage permission. They do not hold the ownership of the title and have no right to license use in any way. Those who plug radio broadcast into their telephone MOH without first obtaining paid permission through the owner's agents (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) may be in violation of copyright law and may be prosecuted under existing federal laws.[ citation needed ]
A second copyright exists when it comes to licensing use for telephonic MOH. A piece of music, as mentioned above, is copyrighted and may be licensed for use as a music title and is understood to be a combination of melody, harmony, and, where applicable, lyrics. However, neither radio listeners nor MOH listeners could hear this music unless it was recorded, providing a delivery medium whereby the "music" becomes a "performance". As mentioned elsewhere, in countries such as the US, where said copyright laws are enforced, nearly every recording of a song title holds its own "mechanical copyright".[ citation needed ]
For most of the 20th century, music was recorded in studios, produced by record company executives, producers, arrangers, and engineers who were hired to deliver the artist's finished recordings for mastering and duplication, for sale on various types of media: 78, 45, and 33 RPM vinyl; reel-to-reel; 8-track tape; cassette; and compact disc. To protect their investment, the record companies obtain a mechanical copyright in order to protect and control the recording with which they derive usage and sales income.[ citation needed ]
For those still uncertain of the difference between "song title" and "mechanical" copyrights, consider the Capitol Records lawsuit for copyright infringement against Nike some 20 years ago. Nike legally obtained permission to use the Beatles song title "Revolution" from the title's owner, Michael Jackson. They used the Capitol Records owned recording of the Beatles' performance, but failed to obtain and pay for permission and use. Capitol Records sued and prevailed because Nike ONLY had a license to use the title and did not have a license to use the mechanical recording.[ citation needed ]
Therefore, persons or businesses wishing to play music that falls "in the public domain" are still legally required to obtain permission to use the mechanical recording of this music, from the mechanical copyright holder. Where the use is of copyrighted music, the same applies. In all cases, before a song title may be broadcast on a telephone MOH, said use must be approved and licensed from BOTH the "song title" copyright owner (if it is not in public domain) and the "mechanical" copyright owner.[ citation needed ]
It is generally known within the on-hold industry that some performance rights societies, with regional offices and staff, both monitor and prosecute persons and businesses that infringe on the copyright of title holders in their libraries. ASCAP and BMI are both aggressive about this, from time to time. It is not known whether any record companies are currently or actively monitoring and prosecuting violators of their mechanical license.[ citation needed ]
As of 2010 [update] , the music-on-hold/message-on-hold business was a 100+ million dollar industry[ citation needed ] with more than 300 different vendors to choose from producing custom content amounting to less than $1m in sales per company—including various manufacturers of specific-duty, message-on-hold devices.
In a Bud Light commercial aired during the Super Bowl LVII telecast in 2023, actor Miles Teller, his wife and their dog start dancing to "Opus Number One" on her phone while waiting to talk to a customer service representative. [15]
Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows telephone users to interact with a computer-operated telephone system through the use of voice and DTMF tones input with a keypad. In telephony, IVR allows customers to interact with a company's host system via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which services can be inquired about through the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes and also used for outbound calling as IVR systems are more intelligent than many predictive dialer systems.
A ringtone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming telephone call. Originally referring to the sound of electromechanical striking of bells or gongs, the term refers to any sound by any device alerting of an incoming call.
A radiotelephone, abbreviated RT, is a radio communication system for conducting a conversation; radiotelephony means telephony by radio. It is in contrast to radiotelegraphy, which is radio transmission of telegrams (messages), or television, transmission of moving pictures and sound. The term is related to radio broadcasting, which transmit audio one way to listeners. Radiotelephony refers specifically to two-way radio systems for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication between separated users, such as CB radio or marine radio. In spite of the name, radiotelephony systems are not necessarily connected to or have anything to do with the telephone network, and in some radio services, including GMRS, interconnection is prohibited.
An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone, or telephone answering device (TAD), is used for answering telephone calls and recording callers' messages.
A voicemail system is a computer-based system that allows people to leave a recorded message when the recipient is unable to answer the phone. The caller is prompted to leave a message and the recipient can retrieve said message at a later time.
Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.
The Carterfone is a device invented by Thomas Carter. It connects a two-way radio system to the telephone system, allowing someone on the radio to talk to someone on the phone. This makes it a direct predecessor to today's autopatch. The connection is acoustic -- sound travels through the air between the Carterfone and a conventional telephone that is part of the telephone system.
Asterisk is a software implementation of a private branch exchange (PBX). In conjunction with suitable telephony hardware interfaces and network applications, Asterisk is used to establish and control telephone calls between telecommunication endpoints such as customary telephone sets, destinations on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and devices or services on voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks. Its name comes from the asterisk (*) symbol for a signal used in dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) dialing.
In telephony, an automated attendant allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/receptionist. Many AAs will also offer a simple menu system. An auto attendant may also allow a caller to reach a live operator by dialing a number, usually "0". Typically the auto attendant is included in a business's phone system such as a PBX, but some services allow businesses to use an AA without such a system. Modern AA services can route calls to mobile phones, VoIP virtual phones, other AAs/IVRs, or other locations using traditional land-line phones or voice message machines.
APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two organisations work together to license public performances and administer performance, communication and reproduction rights on behalf of their members, who are creators of musical works, aiming to ensure fair payments to members and to defend their rights under the Australian Copyright Act (1968).
A VoIP phone or IP phone uses voice over IP technologies for placing and transmitting telephone calls over an IP network, such as the Internet. This is in contrast to a standard phone which uses the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a separate agreement.
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective rights management of sound recordings on behalf of its record-company members, and distributes the fees collected to both its record company members and performer members. As of 2022, PPL collected royalties for over 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders.
Voice broadcasting is a mass communication technique, begun in the 1990s, that broadcasts telephone messages to hundreds or thousands of call recipients at once. This technology has both commercial and community applications. Voice broadcast users can contact targets almost immediately. When used by government authorities, it may be known as an emergency notification system.
In copyright law, a mechanical license is a license from the holder of a copyright of a composition or musical work, to another party to create a "cover song", reproduce, or sample a portion of the original composition. It applies to copyrighted work that is neither a free/open source item nor in the public domain.
PhoneValet Message Center is a discontinued Mac-based multi-line computer-telephony software application from Parliant Corporation. The application provided computer-telephony functionality including voicemail, call recording, and the maintenance of a call history. The system is a combination of software and hardware. PhoneValet was awarded an Eddy award for 2006.
An Internet radio license is a specific type of broadcast license that allows the licensee to operate an Internet radio station. The licensing authority and number of licenses required varies from country to country, with some countries requiring multiple to cover various areas of a station's operation, and other countries not having stringent licensing procedures in place. Licensing costs also vary, based on the number of listeners that a station has, as well as other factors such as the number of songs played, the number of broadcast hours, and whether tracks are dubbed to a digital playout system.
Music Reports provides music rights licensing, administration, royalty accounting, and software development and hosting. Music Reports operates the largest registry of worldwide music rights and related business information.
Music royalties are royalty payments for the writing and performing of music. Unlike other forms of intellectual property, have a strong linkage to individuals – composers (score), songwriters (lyrics) and writers of musical plays – in that they can own the exclusive copyright to created music and can license it for performance independent of corporates. Recording companies and the performing artists that create a "sound recording" of the music enjoy a separate set of copyrights and royalties from the sale of recordings and from their digital transmission.
The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act or MMA is United States legislation signed into law on October 11, 2018, aimed to modernize copyright-related issues for music and audio recordings due to new forms of technology such as digital streaming. It is a consolidation of three separate bills introduced during the 115th United States Congress.
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