A beer garden or pop-up bar counts as a public space, so playing recorded music there usually needs commercial music permission — not a personal Spotify or Apple Music account.
In the UK, music rights and event permits are two separate things: your council handles alcohol and the venue via a Temporary Event Notice, while music copyright runs through PPL PRS or a direct-licensed service.
Seasonal venues can find annual tariffs awkward when they only trade for part of the year. A direct-licensed service can match your actual operating weeks.
Compliance is about being able to show where your music comes from, even for free or charity events — keep a certificate or invoice on hand.
Sonosfera offers direct-licensed catalogue playback so a temporary bar can run legal music without the full annual licensing process.
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.
Beer garden background music: outdoor service without licensing guesswork
A seasonal beer garden or pop-up bar lives or dies on atmosphere, and music is half of it. But the moment you plug a speaker into a public outdoor space, you have crossed from "playing a playlist" into "publicly performing recorded music" — and that carries rules most operators only discover halfway through the summer. The frustrating part is that the rules are not actually complicated; they are just spread across two completely different authorities, and people tend to confuse them.
This guide is for anyone running a temporary outdoor bar in the UK — beer gardens, festival bars, seasonal patios, and weekend pop-ups — who wants the music sorted properly without overpaying for a permanent licence they will only use for a few weeks. It is written for informational purposes and is not formal legal advice; for your exact setup, always check the official sources linked below.
Direct answer: A beer garden is a public space, so background music usually needs commercial permission. Your local council handles the physical event and alcohol through a Temporary Event Notice; music copyright is separate and runs through PPL PRS (TheMusicLicence) or a direct-licensed service. For a short season, a direct-licensed option like Sonosfera can fit the operating period more cleanly than a year-round tariff.
The two-permit problem nobody explains clearly
When operators say music licensing is "confusing," what they usually mean is that they ran into two different systems and assumed one covered the other. It does not.
The first system is your local council, which controls whether you can sell alcohol and run an event on a given site. For a temporary setup this normally means a Temporary Event Notice — a short-term permission from the council for things like alcohol sales, opening hours, and capacity.
The second system is music copyright, which has nothing to do with the council. In the UK, recorded music played in public is covered by TheMusicLicence, administered by PPL PRS — a joint venture between PPL (which collects on behalf of record companies and performers) and PRS for Music (which collects on behalf of songwriters and composers). The official line from the PPL PRS help centre is simple: a business playing recorded music in public generally needs a licence.
The trap is assuming your Temporary Event Notice "includes the music." It does not. The Temporary Event Notice page on GOV.UK covers alcohol and the event itself, not the copyright in the songs you play. Treat them as two separate boxes to tick.
Why a personal streaming account is not a shortcut
The most common shortcut — and the one most likely to cause a problem — is reaching for a personal Spotify or Apple Music account on a phone and a Bluetooth speaker.
It does not work, and the reason is in the terms you agreed to. Personal streaming subscriptions are licensed for private, domestic use only. Public performance — which UK copyright law defines as music played outside the normal domestic and family setting — falls outside what those accounts permit, and PRS for Music confirms that businesses playing recorded music to the public generally need a separate licence to do so legally. A beer garden, however small or temporary, is a public space the moment paying customers are in it.
Using a personal account commercially is outside the consumer-use terms those platforms publish, and it also leaves the public-performance question unresolved. The fix is not to play quieter or hope nobody notices — it is to use a source that actually grants you commercial playback rights for the setting.
Why annual tariffs can mismatch seasonal venues
Here is the genuine pain point for temporary operators: many traditional tariffs were built around permanent, year-round sites. If your outdoor bar opens only across a short summer season, an annual licence can feel mismatched because a large part of the covered year sits outside your actual trading period.
This mismatch matters because many outdoor bars trade in short, weather-dependent periods rather than all year. If your beer garden only opens across summer weekends, the practical question is not just "is music licensed?" but "does the licence period match the way this venue actually trades?"
There are short-term routes — PPL PRS publishes guidance for live events and festivals — but the application process can feel slow and rigid next to how fast a pop-up actually moves. You decide on a Thursday to open a Saturday bar; you do not want a multi-week licensing cycle in the middle of that.
This is where a direct-licensed service is a genuinely different model rather than a marketing line. A direct-licensed catalogue means the provider has already cleared the rights to its own music for commercial playback, so you are paying that provider for access rather than negotiating a separate collecting-society tariff for that catalogue. You pay for the period you actually operate. You can check the Sonosfera pricing page to see how a short-season plan compares to a full-year commitment, or browse the Sonosfera catalogue first to see whether the music suits your venue.
TheMusicLicence (PPL PRS) vs a direct-licensed service at a glance
The two music routes solve the same problem in very different ways. The table below compares them on the four things that actually decide which one fits a seasonal outdoor bar — how the tariff is structured, how long it takes to be covered, what catalogue you get, and how well it flexes around a short season.
Factor
TheMusicLicence (PPL PRS)
Direct-licensed service (e.g. Sonosfera)
Tariff type
Sector-based annual tariff (PPL + PRS combined into one bill)
Subscription for the catalogue you stream; pay per period you operate
Time to be covered
Confirm the set-up time directly with PPL PRS before opening day
Coverage starts when the provider confirms your active subscription and eligible playback period
Catalogue scope
The vast majority of commercially released music, including mainstream chart and major-label recordings
A curated catalogue cleared by the provider — broad enough for ambience, not the full chart
Seasonal flexibility
Built for year-round sites; short-term routes exist but the cycle is slow
Matches your actual operating weeks — no paying for months you are closed
The useful way to compare the two routes is to map licence length against trading length. A bar that opens only for summer weekends has a different buying problem from a year-round pub garden. PPL PRS does publish short-term and event-based options — see its guidance for live events and festivals — so compare those current options against any direct-licensed subscription period before choosing. For exact figures for your venue type, pricing is set by TheMusicLicence directly and varies by sector, audience size, and how the music is used, so always price your own setup against the official tariffs rather than a rule of thumb.
If your situation is specifically a weekend or summer pop-up, the dedicated background music for pop-up bars page goes deeper on that exact use case.
Compliance is about proof, not just payment
A misconception worth killing early: "we are not making a profit, so we do not need a licence." UK copyright rules still treat playing recorded music in public as a rights question, even when the event is free or charitable. The UK Intellectual Property Office is the government body for UK intellectual property policy, while PPL PRS and direct-licensed providers are the practical routes most venues check for recorded-music playback. A free community pop-up still needs to understand the source and rights for the music it plays.
What compliance actually comes down to, day to day, is being able to show where your music comes from if anyone asks. A "it's just a charity event" answer does not address the source-of-music question on its own. What does is having your provider details to hand — a subscription record, a commercial invoice, or a certificate.
If you run on Sonosfera, you can keep a Sonosfera certificate on a phone or tablet at the bar. It records that the account and period are covered for eligible Sonosfera catalogue playback, which is exactly the kind of evidence that answers the question quickly rather than turning it into a dispute.
Keep the two checks separate in practice
The cleanest way to run this without last-minute panic is to handle the two systems on separate tracks from the start:
Council track: apply for your Temporary Event Notice early — it covers alcohol, hours, and the event itself.
Music track: pick your music source — either TheMusicLicence via PPL PRS, or a direct-licensed service that clears its own catalogue.
Run those in parallel and neither one bottlenecks the other. Where operators get caught out is treating them as one job, finishing the council paperwork, and assuming the music is handled. It is the music track that quietly gets skipped.
The right choice between the two music options depends on your setup. If you want to play mainstream chart music and major-label recordings, TheMusicLicence is the route, because that is the catalogue PPL and PRS represent. If you are happy with a curated catalogue and want predictable, season-length pricing without an annual tariff, a direct-licensed service is usually the simpler fit for a pop-up.
Beer garden music compliance checklist
Print this or save it to your phone and work down it before opening day. It is a quick, self-contained version of everything above — copy it into your own notes and tick each item off as you go.
Before you open:
Apply for your Temporary Event Notice with the council, covering alcohol, opening hours, and capacity.
Keep council permission separate from music copyright; the Temporary Event Notice route is not a music-source licence.
Decide your music track: TheMusicLicence (PPL PRS) for mainstream chart music, or a direct-licensed service for a curated, season-length catalogue.
If using PPL PRS, apply early and allow several working days to be confirmed as covered before your first trading day.
If using a direct-licensed service, subscribe for the period you actually operate, not a full year.
Remove any personal Spotify or Apple Music account from the playback plan — personal accounts do not cover public performance.
On site, every trading day:
Keep proof of your music source accessible — a subscription record, commercial invoice, or certificate on a phone or tablet at the bar.
Make sure whoever opens up knows where that proof is, in case someone asks.
Treat free and charity sessions exactly the same — there is no exemption for not charging entry.
Frequently asked questions
Can a pop-up bar use a personal Spotify or Apple Music account?
No. Personal streaming accounts are licensed for private, non-commercial use only. Playing music from one in any commercial setting — including a temporary outdoor bar — breaches the platform's terms and counts as public performance, which needs commercial permission under UK copyright law. Use a service that grants commercial playback rights instead.
Does a Temporary Event Notice cover the music too?
No, and this is the single most common mistake. A Temporary Event Notice, issued by your local council via GOV.UK, covers alcohol sales, opening hours, and the event itself. The copyright in the songs you play is a separate matter handled through TheMusicLicence (PPL PRS) or a direct-licensed service. You generally need both.
Do free or charity events get an exemption?
No automatic exemption should be assumed just because the event is free or charitable. A community pop-up that plays recorded music in public still needs to understand the rights for the music source it uses. Keep proof of your music source — a certificate or invoice — accessible on site.
What kind of music works best in an outdoor space?
A good starting point for an open-air bar is curated instrumental tracks, mellow electronic, and warm acoustic styles, kept a touch brighter than you would indoors. Outdoors, sound disperses instead of bouncing off walls, so atmosphere has to carry across an open area without forcing people to raise their voices to talk over it. Treat these as a baseline to adjust by night, not a fixed rule. A direct-licensed catalogue lets you keep that sound compliant without paying premium tariffs for mainstream chart music you may not even need.
Secure your Temporary Event Notice with the council, then decide your music track. If a curated, direct-licensed catalogue with season-length pricing fits your beer garden better than a full-year tariff, take a look at the Sonosfera pricing page and browse the catalogue to hear whether it suits your space.
