CURATOR NOWvsMOOD MEDIA

Mood sells a music license. We curate for premium spaces.

Mood Media has owned commercial background music for 90 years, licensing a catalog and selling access at scale, the same shelf used by tens of thousands of locations. Activaire is the opposite: a 27-year music studio of working DJs, brand designers, and music supervisors building actual scenes for the spaces we know. Both ship fleet dashboards, messaging, and hardware. The real question is whether your space sounds like a brand decision or a music license.

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At a glance Curator Now Mood Media
Curation model✓ Studio of working music professionalsIn-house team, licensed library
Custom brand programs✓ Built from scratch (Enterprise)Library subsets, premium tier
Track recordLuxury Lifestyle, Retail, Hospitality, and Co-Working.Mass retail, QSR, banking, healthcare
Years in commercial music27 (independent studio)90 (PE-owned corporation)
Dedicated playback hardware✓ Epicentre, 70% of EnterpriseProFusion / standard player
Existing AV integration✓ Native Sonos, Q-SYS, MarshallLimited to Mood hardware
Multi-zone control✓ Yes✓ Yes
In-store audio messaging✓ Pro & Enterprise✓ Engage tier
Self-serve entry tier✓ Basic, $35/zone/mo, 14-day trialFundamentals, $15.30/mo, no trial
Full PRO licensing✓ ASCAP/BMI/SESAC/GMR included✓ Included
Scope of businessMusic Focused. Music is the core product.Music + scent + signage + on-hold + AV
Why Curator Now

The differences that show up in your space.

Mood sells a catalog. We build the sound.

Mood distributes pre-packaged, off-the-shelf playlists across tens of thousands of mass-market locations. Curator Now builds a custom music program from scratch on our Enterprise tier.

Epicentre exists because dead air is the ultimate brand killer.

Mood ships ProFusion. We built Epicentre because enterprise operations need bulletproof reliability, not hardware that freezes. 

You reach our team. Not a ticket queue.

Mood is a 90-year corporation with tiered support. At Activaire you reach the curators who build your program directly.  We trade bureaucratic delays for immediate, expert execution.

When Mood is the right call (we'll say it)

If your requirement is single-vendor AV procurement, scent, on-hold messaging, signage, and music bundled by one big provider on a long-term contract, Mood is built for that. If your priority is music as a brand asset rather than a checked box on a facilities RFP, Curator Now is the right call.

Questions people ask.

What's the real difference between Curator Now and Mood Media?+

Mood's model is library aggregation at scale: license a catalog and sell access to it, the same shelf used by tens of thousands of locations. Activaire is a 27-year music studio that builds custom programs from scratch around each Enterprise brand.

Why do design-led brands choose Curator Now over Mood Media?+

Because Activaire is a team of music curators and technologists, not a license reseller. Working DJs, A&R, and brand-side music supervisors build custom programs for Enterprise customers, that's why GOOP, LVMH, Patagonia, Mejuri, Rag & Bone, WeWork, and Hyatt sound distinct, even though Activaire curates for all of them.

Is Mood Media cheaper than Curator Now?+

Mood's entry tier is cheaper on paper at $15.30/month (annual). Activaire Basic starts at $35/zone/month. Pricing roughly equalizes on Mood's Engage tier and on Enterprise terms, the real comparison is value, not entry price.

Does Mood Media offer custom music programs?+

Mood offers premium-tier curation selecting subsets of their licensed library. Activaire builds custom brand programs from scratch on Enterprise, designed around your brand identity by curators, not selected from a shelf.

What hardware does Curator Now use vs Mood Media?+

Mood ships ProFusion, their standard commercial player. Activaire ships Epicentre, our dedicated media player with local caching, automated updates, and fleet-dashboard integration. 70% of Enterprise customers run on Epicentre.

Music your brand actually owns.

14-day free trial on Basic, no credit card. Multi-location operators: talk to the team about a custom Enterprise program with Epicentre included.

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