1What TheMusicLicence is, and what it costs
PPL PRS Ltd is the joint venture of the UK's two music collecting societies, PRS for Music and PPL. It sells their one joint licence, TheMusicLicence, which is the permission you need to play commercially released music where the public can hear it, under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. One application, one invoice, one renewal. That part is simpler than most markets.
PPL PRS publishes example prices rather than a single rate. For small premises in 2026 the published examples run from £168.71 a year ex VAT for an office with four staff or fewer to £400.81 for a cafe or restaurant with up to 30 seats, with a shop up to 50 square metres at £235.50 and a pub or bar up to 400 square metres at £364.62. Hotel bedrooms run £15 to £28 each, with every public area charged separately.
Those are floors, and most of them describe the radio delivery method, which is the cheapest way to receive music. A business that streams sits on a higher tariff. Fees also scale with audible floor area, occupancy and how music is used, and PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one.
One more thing worth stating plainly: TheMusicLicence is permission to play music, not a supply of music. You still need something to actually play.
2Option one: mainstream commercial streaming
Services such as Soundtrack Your Brand supply mainstream chart music to businesses, with the master and publishing rights cleared for commercial play. You get recognisable music, legally, on one bill for the supply.
Typical cost. About £22 to £40 per zone per month. And the part that catches people out: the leading services do not include TheMusicLicence. The licence from PPL PRS is still owed on top, at the tariff that applies to your premises. Quote led managed services with hardware are much the same story.
What you give up. Predictability. The supply price scales per zone, the licence price scales with your premises, and the two can rise independently.
A commercial service covers music played through that service. Live bands, guest DJs, karaoke and a staff phone plugged into the amplifier are all outside it, and remain your responsibility.
3Option two: a licence free playlist library
A different class of service has grown in the UK: playlist libraries whose own catalogues sit outside the PPL and PRS repertoires. Two independent providers sell at £15 a month or £150 a year, plus VAT, one price per site regardless of size, and because their music is not in the societies' repertoires, no TheMusicLicence is needed to play it.
What you give up. Chart hits and artist names your customers would recognise. These are libraries of instrumental and independent music, and the offer is genuinely playlist depth and nothing more: no dayparting scheduler, no zones, no announcements, no music video channels, no certificate paperwork for a rep visit.
4Option three: a catalogue licensed at source
RadioB2B takes the licence free idea further. The catalogue is licensed directly from its rights holders through RadioPRO Ltd, a UK collective management organisation registered under sections 38 and 175 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and none of it is registered with PRS for Music or PPL. No public performance royalty arises on what you play through the service.
Typical cost. £179 a year flat, which includes the catalogue, the player, the dayparting scheduler, zones for multi room premises, your own announcements, staff accounts, background music video channels and a Music Licence Certificate with QR verification.
What you give up. Current chart hits by name. If your customers must hear this month's number one, buy TheMusicLicence and pick a mainstream supplier. If they need the right atmosphere, this is usually the cheaper and simpler route, and the annual price works out at £14.92 a month, just under the £15 the basic libraries charge.
5Why licence free is lawful
The point that matters is repertoire. A collecting society's authority is limited to the works its members have assigned to it. It has no general power to tax music, only to license what it represents.
RadioB2B's catalogue is licensed at source through RadioPRO Ltd, on the basis that rights are cleared with the people who own them. None of the works is assigned to PRS for Music or PPL, and RadioPRO Ltd holds no reciprocal agreement with either. There is therefore nothing in the stream for either society to collect on, and no public performance royalty arises on it.
This only holds for music that comes through the service. Play a mainstream radio station, a consumer streaming account, a live band or a customer's phone alongside it and that music is back in the societies' repertoire, licensable under the 1988 Act. Whatever route you choose, choose one and stick to it.
6Side by side
| Route | Annual cost | Music included | Chart hits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TheMusicLicence on its own | £168.71 to £400.81+ ex VAT | No | Yes, source it yourself | Venues with live music or DJs who need the licence anyway |
| Mainstream streaming | £22 to £40 a zone a month, licence on top | Yes | Yes | Brands whose customers expect recognisable current music |
| Licence free library | £15 a month plus VAT | Yes | No | Single room premises happy with a fixed playlist |
| Licensed at source | £179 flat | Yes | No | Venues that want scheduling, zones and no licence relationship at all |
See what TheMusicLicence would charge you
Our calculator compares PPL PRS's own published example prices for your kind of business against a single RadioB2B subscription, and the 14-day trial needs no card.
7Switching safely
Order matters. Do these in sequence and there is no window of exposure.
- Change the source first. Get the new service running on every zone, and remove every other music source, including staff phones and any consumer streaming account still connected to the system.
- Get your documentation. Download the Music Licence Certificate and keep a copy where staff can find it.
- Then end TheMusicLicence, in writing, following the notice period in the agreement. Keep the correspondence.
- Brief the team. Most re-exposure happens because a member of staff plugs in a phone on a quiet shift.
Never cancel first and switch later. The licence is what covers the period you were playing mainstream repertoire, and PPL PRS prices that period retroactively.
8Questions
If a PPL PRS rep visits, what do I show them?
Your Music Licence Certificate, which names your business and the locations it covers and carries a QR code linking to a live verification page. It states that the music you play through the service sits outside the PRS for Music and PPL repertoires.
Is this a loophole that might close?
It is not a loophole. It is the ordinary operation of copyright, which is that permission comes from whoever owns the work. Direct licensing has existed as long as collective licensing has, and RadioPRO Ltd is registered under the same 1988 Act sections as the societies themselves.
What about the sound recording side?
Both sides are covered in the same chain. TheMusicLicence exists precisely because the composition side and the recording side are separate rights. A catalogue licensed at source is cleared for both at once, so there is no separate label claim to settle.
Can I keep TheMusicLicence just in case?
You can, but if you have removed all mainstream music there is nothing left for it to cover. Most businesses that switch end it once the source has changed.
Licence figures are the PPL PRS published examples, ex VAT, taken from pplprs.co.uk and current as of February 2026. Market pricing is typical of publicly listed UK providers. Competitor names are used only to identify those services and imply no affiliation. General information, not legal advice. See our Terms of Use.