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How to Put Your Own Song on Hold: On Hold Music for a Small Business

How to get hold music for your business and change it yourself: what to ask your phone provider, file formats, volume, and why not to use a radio song.

By Explainer Music Videos · October 17, 2026 · 4 min read

Most small businesses never chose their hold music. It came with the phone system: a tinny loop, a beep every few seconds, or nothing at all, so callers wonder if they've been cut off. If you're looking up how to get hold music for your business, the good news is that changing it is usually a short phone call and a file upload.

Here is how to put your own on hold music for business calls in place, step by step, without needing to know anything about phone systems.

Step 1: Ask your phone provider how it works on your system

Every phone setup is a little different, so start by asking the people who run yours. Call or email your phone provider and ask:

• Can I upload my own on-hold audio?
• Do I upload it myself, or do you do it for me?
• What file format, length and size do you need?
• Can I have more than one file, like a message and music that alternate?
• Can I set different audio for after hours?

If you have an office phone system that someone local installed, ask them instead. Write the answers down, because you'll want them again next season when you change on hold music or messages.

Step 2: Get the file ready

Format. Many systems accept an MP3, which is what most people already have. Some older or office systems ask for a specific format or sound quality. Don't let that stop you. Tell your provider what you have and ask them to convert it, or ask exactly what they need. Most are used to this question.

Length. A song that's 30 seconds to a couple of minutes is plenty. The system will loop it. If your file is very long, check whether the system has a size limit.

Volume. Phone lines squeeze sound down, and hold audio that's too loud turns harsh, while audio that's too quiet sounds like silence. After it's uploaded, call your own business from a cell phone, get put on hold, and listen for a full minute. If it's too loud or too soft, ask your provider whether they can adjust the level, or have the file turned down or up before uploading again.

Test on a cell phone. That's how most of your customers will hear it, so that's the test that counts.

Step 3: Decide whether to mix messages with music

You have three common choices:

• Music only. Simple and pleasant. Good if most callers wait less than a minute.
• Music with a message between. For example, 30 seconds of your song, then a 20-second spoken line about your hours or a seasonal reminder, then the song again.
• Message only. Usually the least pleasant to sit through. Most people prefer music in the gaps.

If your system takes only one file, whoever makes your audio can join the song and messages into one track. If it takes several, upload them separately and set the order. Need words for the messages? We wrote ready-to-read on hold message examples for plumbers, HVAC, electricians, dental offices and pest control.

Why not just use a song you like from the radio

It's tempting to put on a country song you love or a classic rock tune. The trouble is the rights. Playing a recorded song to the public, including callers on hold, generally needs permission from the people who own the music. Buying the song, owning the CD or paying for a streaming account is for personal listening and doesn't cover that.

We're not lawyers and the rules can be detailed, so if you're unsure about a particular song, ask your phone provider or check with someone who knows music licensing. The simple way around it is to use music you clearly have the right to use on hold:

• music that came with your phone system,
• music licensed for on-hold use, or
• a song made for your business that you're allowed to use everywhere.

There's another reason to skip the radio hit. A famous song tells callers nothing about you. A song with your name in it reminds them, while they wait, who they called.

Where a song fits

If you'd like hold music that's yours, our Jingle package is a 30-second song with your business's name, what it does and your phone number, delivered as an MP3, along with a vertical video for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and a thumbnail. It's $750, paid once, plus sales tax where it applies, and you can use it on hold, on the radio, at events and everywhere else for as long as you like. It's written new for your business, so there's no question whose song it is.

You hear the song and okay every word before the video is made, and you don't pay until you've seen the result. Send us the form, or have us call you if you'd rather talk it through first.