Support Center / System Settings
Music on Hold — Categories, Custom Audio, and Legal Notes
Music on hold (MOH) plays whenever a caller waits — on hold, in transfer, in a parked slot. Signal ships a licensed library organized by category; you set an account default, override per extension or department, and can upload custom audio you hold rights to.
Configuration levels
- Account default — applies everywhere unless overridden (Account Settings). A "force default" option ignores lower-level overrides when you want one sound account-wide.
- Per extension — a department can carry its own category (spa-calm for the clinic, upbeat for sales).
- Queues and parking use MOH too — waiting callers hear the applicable category.
Custom audio: the licensing reality
Commercial music (anything on the radio or Spotify) requires public-performance licensing to play to callers on hold — playing an unlicensed track to your hold queue is infringement, and rights organizations do pursue businesses for it. Safe options:
- The built-in licensed library (no action needed).
- Royalty-free tracks you've purchased with hold-music rights.
- Message-on-hold productions you commission (voice + licensed bed) — the professional pattern: reinforce hours, services, and web address while callers wait.
Upload custom files in the recordings section; keep source files and license receipts together in your records.
Practical guidance
- Voice-over MOH measurably reduces perceived wait versus silence or loops.
- Match volume across tracks; callers punished by a loud loop hang up.
- Silence ("None") is legitimate for clinical contexts — a deliberate choice, not a default.
Related articles
Last reviewed August 6, 2026. Still stuck? Contact Signal Support from your portal — include what you expected, what happened instead, and one example phone number or extension.