Most UK businesses that play music in public need TheMusicLicence, which combines the PPL and PRS for Music licences in one payment.
There is no single flat fee — your price depends on how you use music, your premises, and audience size, so always check the live rate.
Royalty-free and AI-generated music services can remove the PPL/PRS requirement, but only for their own catalogue, not for Spotify, radio, or chart playlists.
Get any "no licence needed" claim in writing, with a certificate, before you rely on it.
Keep this guide as a starting point and confirm pricing on each provider's own page before you buy.
Use Sonosfera for eligible catalogue background playback in United Kingdom, then keep DJs, live music, radio, uploaded tracks, venue terms, and local permissions in their own checks.
Sonosfera was started by a salon operator who got caught out by PPL/PRS licensing letters and built the music platform they wished existed. The team behind this blog has spent years inside hair and beauty businesses, clinics, and hospitality venues — booking the bills, dealing with the licensing letters, and learning the hard way that most Spotify playlists don't work for a professional environment.
UK Music Licensing Costs 2026: What PRS/PPL Really Costs Businesses
By Sonosfera Team
Quick answer: a UK music licence cost is not one fixed price; it depends on your venue type, how music is used, the size of the audible area, and whether you play mainstream music or only a cleared catalogue. If you run a shop or high-street venue and want to compare a venue-first alternative before checking PPL PRS tariffs, start with Sonosfera's background music for retail guide, then confirm any live TheMusicLicence quote directly with PPL PRS.
If you play music in your shop, café, gym, salon or waiting room in the UK, the law treats that as a public performance — and that usually means you need a licence. The question almost every owner asks first is simple: how much does it cost? The honest answer is that there is no single sticker price, but there is a clear way to work out your number and to decide whether a licence is even the route you want.
This guide is for UK business owners and managers — pubs, cafés, salons, gyms, retailers and small offices — who want to understand what a music licence covers, roughly what drives the cost, and what the licence-free alternatives actually do (and don't) cover. It is general guidance, not legal advice; for an unusual venue, a live event, broadcasting or uploaded music, talk to the relevant body or a solicitor.
What "music licensing" means in the UK
Two sets of rights are involved when you play recorded music in public:
PRS for Music collects on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers — the people who wrote the song.
PPL collects on behalf of record companies and performers — the people who recorded it.
Since 2018 these two organisations sell a single joint product called TheMusicLicence, run by PPL PRS Ltd. Instead of buying two separate licences, most businesses buy one TheMusicLicence that covers both sets of rights. If you play the radio, a streaming service, CDs, a TV with music, or live performances on your premises, this is almost always the licence you need.
The key point: a music licence is about the right to perform music publicly, not about where the audio comes from. A paid Spotify or Apple Music subscription covers personal listening only — it does not give you permission to play those services in a commercial space.
What drives the price
TheMusicLicence is not a flat fee. The cost is built from tariffs that reflect how you actually use music, so two businesses on the same street can pay very different amounts. The main factors are:
How music is used — background music, music on hold, a TV or radio in a waiting area, fitness classes, or live and amplified performance each fall under different tariffs.
The size of the space — many tariffs scale with floor area, audible area, or the number of rooms where music plays.
Audience and staff numbers — capacity, the number of staff who can hear the music, or class sizes can all feed into the calculation.
Type of premises — a hair salon, a gym studio, a pub and a large retailer are charged on different bases.
Because rates are reviewed and updated, the only reliable figure is the current one. Use the tariff calculator and request a quote directly at TheMusicLicence for your premises rather than relying on a number you saw in a forum — published examples online are frequently out of date or for the wrong business type.
The licence-free alternative: what it does and doesn't cover
A growing group of background-music providers let businesses skip the PPL/PRS requirement entirely. They do this by licensing music you won't find in the mainstream charts — royalty-free libraries, original-artist catalogues, or AI-generated tracks — where the public-performance rights are already cleared for commercial use.
This can genuinely change whether TheMusicLicence is needed, but only within tight limits. A catalogue-exemption service covers its own catalogue, played through its own player. It does not retroactively license a chart playlist, an internet radio station, a CD, or a guest DJ. If you mix in mainstream music from another source, you are back in licensing territory for that music.
Two practical rules before you trust any such claim:
Get it in writing. Reputable providers issue a certificate or written statement confirming their music is licence-exempt for commercial use. Keep it on file.
Match the claim to how you'll actually play music. A certificate for a provider's own app means nothing if your staff also stream Spotify over the speakers.
A snapshot of UK background-music providers
The table below summarises the public positioning and pricing of several UK-facing services, based on their own websites. Treat prices as indicative and confirm them on each provider's page before buying — terms, VAT and contract length vary.
A couple of these are worth reading carefully. Some services — including major curated platforms — make clear on their UK pages that public-performance rights are not included and that you should still hold TheMusicLicence where it applies. That is a useful honesty signal: a provider telling you what it doesn't cover is easier to trust than one promising blanket "full coverage."
Where Sonosfera fits
Sonosfera is a background-music service built for UK businesses that want music sorted in one step without a separate PRS/PPL bill. The catalogue is original music licensed for commercial play, so playing it through the Sonosfera player does not require TheMusicLicence for that music.
To be straight about the boundary: that cover applies to Sonosfera's own catalogue, played through Sonosfera. It is not a licence for Spotify, YouTube, radio, CDs, a live act, or third-party playlists — if you want those, you'll still need TheMusicLicence for them. If your venue runs entirely on a cleared background-music catalogue, a service like this can be simpler and more predictable than tracking tariffs. If you need chart music or live performance, budget for TheMusicLicence and treat the comparison below as your first stop.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need a licence to play music in my business?
In most cases, yes. Playing recorded music where customers or staff can hear it counts as a public performance under UK copyright law, which generally requires TheMusicLicence (covering PPL and PRS). A handful of narrow exceptions exist, but assuming you're exempt is risky — confirm your situation with PPL PRS.
Does my Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon subscription cover my business?
No. Consumer streaming subscriptions are licensed for personal use only. Using them as in-store music does not grant public-performance rights, regardless of how much you pay for the subscription. You'd still need TheMusicLicence, or a dedicated commercial service.
How much does TheMusicLicence cost in 2026?
There's no flat fee — the cost depends on how you use music, your premises type and size, and your audience. Because tariffs are reviewed periodically, the only accurate figure is a current quote from TheMusicLicence for your specific business.
Can a royalty-free or AI-music service really remove the PRS/PPL requirement?
For its own catalogue, yes — that's the whole model. But it only covers the music that provider supplies, played through its player. The moment you add chart music, radio or a third-party playlist, those tracks need their own licensing. Always keep the provider's written certificate.
