Hold music

Hold music is the audio content played to a caller on hold: music, a spoken message, or a blend. The often-ignored point: playing commercial music in a business context is a public use requiring a license — SACEM in France, performing-rights organizations elsewhere. Compliant options are royalty-free music and messages produced for hold.

Beyond law, it's a matter of psychology: silence on hold feels twice as long as it is, and a caller without feedback hangs up quickly. Good practices are simple — assist the wait instead of papering over it: position message ("you are number 2"), estimated duration, callback offer. And a golden rule: never resume abruptly mid-sentence; a brutal return to the line is the surest way to annoy a client who waited patiently.