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Playing music in your business? Personal apps like Spotify won’t cover it - you need a license.
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Music is protected by copyright the moment it's created, and UK law gives songwriters, performers and labels the exclusive right to decide where their work is played in public. Playing music anywhere outside a private home - even just for staff - counts as a public performance, and needs their permission.
That permission covers two rights bound up in every track: the composition and the recording. The fees go back to the people who made the music - and it applies whether you're playing the radio, a streaming subscription, or music you've bought outright.
Personal streaming apps are licensed for private, non-commercial listening only - their own terms of service explicitly rule out business use. Playing them in places like shops, cafés, gyms, or offices is a “public performance” under UK copyright law, even if it’s only staff who can hear it.
And it’s not just streaming apps. Broadcasting a personal CD, downloaded MP3s, or a homemade playlist through your sound system is illegal without the right licence - even if you paid for every track. Ownership of the track doesn’t give you the right to perform it in public - that’s where PPL PRS comes in.
Since PPL and PRS for Music joined forces, most businesses arrange both together as a single licence - TheMusicLicence, for their premises.
Cost depends on your sector and how you use music - PPL PRS bases it on things like floor area, seating capacity or staff numbers. As a guide, here’s what some published 2026 examples look like:
A professional background music service supplies fully licensed music content - but PPL and PRS licences are separate, and remain the venue's own responsibility to obtain. No provider, including a professional one, arranges these on your behalf.
What professional background music services can provide are professionally curated playlists built from a catalogue made for commercial use, and a single centralised platform that gives the head office full visibility and control across the entire estate.
If you’re opening sites outside of the UK, you’ll need the local equivalent of PPL PRS for each territory.
Frequently asked questions.
Yes, in almost all cases. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, playing or performing music anywhere outside a private home counts as a “public performance” and needs permission from the people who created it, even if it’s only your staff who hear it. Since PPL and PRS for Music joined forces, that permission comes as a single licence, TheMusicLicence, covering both the recording and the composition.
PPL licenses the recording - the performers and record label behind the specific version of a track you play. PRS for Music licenses the composition - the songwriters and composers who wrote it. Most music needs both, which is why they’re now issued together as TheMusicLicence rather than as two separate licences.
PPL PRS can visit or contact your business to check what’s playing. Going without a licence can mean backdated fees (plus a surcharge, for up to six years of use) and legal costs - UK court cases have seen businesses ordered to pay anywhere from £1,500 to £19,000 including costs. Sorting it upfront is far cheaper and simpler.
It varies by sector and how much you use music. As a rough guide, published 2026 examples range from around £168/year for a small office up to £537/year for a cafe or restaurant (both +VAT). Get an exact quote from PPL PRS.
Not directly - TheMusicLicence has to be issued in your business’ name, tied to your premises, so we can’t sort it for you. What we do is make sure you know exactly what you need, and give you a music service that’s built for legal commercial play from the moment your licence is in place.