If somebody has asked you what music your building played last quarter, the worst answer is a shrug and the second worst is a guess. Music reporting returns - the kind PRS, PPL and SoundExchange collect - want a list of what actually went out, and the system that played it is the only thing that genuinely knows.
Before anything else, one thing needs saying plainly, because it is the question underneath the question: this article is about producing the paperwork, not about whether you need a licence. Whether music you play needs one, which one, and what it costs is between you and the licensing society. Multilarm has no opinion on it, makes no claim about it, and nothing in the software should be read as advice.
Broadly: what was played, by whom, from what release, when, and how many times. Different schemes ask for different columns and some ask for identifiers the building never sees - an ISRC, a label, a service name.
Everything that came out of the audio files themselves: title, artist, album, when it started, and how long it ran. That is the substance of a return and it is exact, because it was recorded at the moment the track played rather than reconstructed afterwards.
What it cannot fill in is the identifiers your files do not carry. Multilarm leaves those blank rather than guessing. A blank cell is a question somebody can answer; an invented ISRC is a wrong answer nobody will notice.
Announcements, bells, chimes and idents. They are not music and including them overstates the return. Multilarm excludes announcements from the music totals for exactly that reason - a return that claims more music than was played is not a favour to anybody.
Every track that goes out is written to a CSV, one file per month, in a PlayLog folder beside the config. You export a date range from the dashboard in one of two shapes:
The files are plain CSV on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, and no part of this requires the cloud dashboard to be switched on.
Then the log records what the stream reported, which is as much as any system can know. If you are playing an internet radio stream rather than your own files, the station's own reporting is generally what the schemes rely on - another reason the answer to "what do I report" belongs to the society and not to the software.
Yes, and it is often the reason people open it. It answers "why did we hear that song twice this morning" with a timestamp, shows whether a jingle or a safety reminder actually fired, shows which hours had music at all, and shows what the system fell back to on the night the music share did not mount. It is the same file either way - a reporting return is one use of it, not its only one.
What exactly is recorded?
Title, artist and album as they exist in your files, plus the start time and duration of every track that went out. It is written as it plays, not reconstructed later.
Are announcements counted as music?
No. Announcements are excluded from the music totals so a return is never overstated.
What about ISRC, label or service name?
Left blank unless the file itself carried the information. Multilarm does not guess identifiers it does not have.
Where is the file kept, and does it leave my machine?
In a PlayLog folder beside the config, one CSV per month, on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded. Exporting is a download from the dashboard.
Does Multilarm tell me whether I need a music licence?
No, and it will not try. It produces the record of what was played. Whether a licence is required, which one, and what it costs is a matter for you and the licensing society.