Akash Kumar is a salon owner turned software founder. After years of running a hair and beauty business in the UK — and getting caught out by PPL/PRS licensing letters — he built Sonosfera to solve the problem he lived through firsthand.
Most salon owners think their Spotify subscription covers them. It doesn't.
You're paying £11.99 a month for Premium, but that only covers personal use. Playing that same playlist in your salon, cafe, or shop is a violation of copyright law. It exposes you to fines that can reach thousands of pounds.
Here is the uncomfortable truth about music licensing in the UK, what it actually costs, and how to fix it without spending a fortune.
Is it illegal to play Spotify in a business?
Yes. It is a breach of Spotify’s Terms and Conditions and UK copyright law.
"The Spotify Service and the Content are the property of Spotify or Spotify's licensors. We grant you limited, non-exclusive, revocable permission to make use of the Spotify Service... for your personal, non-commercial use."
"Personal use" means headphones or your living room. "Commercial use" means any environment where you are making money. This includes:
Hair and beauty salons
Barbershops
Cafes and restaurants
Retail shops
Hotel lobbies
Gyms
When you play music in a business, it is considered a "public performance." Artists and record labels require a higher royalty rate for this because your business benefits from the atmosphere their music creates.
Spotify does not pay these higher royalties. Therefore, your subscription does not cover you.
The PPL and PRS Confusion
If you can't use Spotify alone, most UK business owners assume they just need "a licence." This is where it gets expensive.
In the UK, there are two separate organisations you need to pay:
PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited): They represent the record labels and performers. They own the rights to the actual recording.
PRS for Music (Performing Right Society): They represent the songwriters, composers, and publishers. They own the rights to the lyrics and melody. You can check if you need a licence on the PRS website.
For decades, you had to buy two separate licences. If you had a PRS licence but not a PPL licence, you were still breaking the law.
Real businesses get caught on this technicality constantly. A UK hairdresser was fined £1,569 for playing music without a PPL licence, despite trying to comply with PRS separately. They thought they were covered. They weren't.
Enter "TheMusicLicence"
In 2018, PPL and PRS joined forces to create TheMusicLicence. This allows you to pay both fees in one go.
While this reduces paperwork, it does not reduce the cost.
For a typical hair and beauty salon with up to 5 treatment chairs, TheMusicLicence costs approximately £335.94 per year (+VAT). If you have up to 10 chairs, that jumps to £448.72 per year.
That is roughly £1.23 every single day just to play the radio or a CD.
The Cost Comparison: Spotify vs TheMusicLicence vs Sonosfera
You have three options. You can break the law (risky), pay the standard fees (expensive), or use a commercial streaming service (smart).
Here is how the numbers stack up for a standard UK salon.
Option
Legal Status
Annual Cost
Risk
Spotify Personal
Illegal
£143.88
High (Fines up to £19k)
Spotify + TheMusicLicence
Legal
£479.82
None (But very expensive)
Sonosfera
Legal
£167.88
None
Note: Even if you pay for TheMusicLicence, you technically still cannot use Spotify to stream that music, as Spotify's terms forbid it. You would need to play CDs, the radio, or buy digital downloads.
Sonosfera costs £19.99/month. If you join as a founding member (limited to the first 100 spots), it's just £11.99/month (£119.99/year).
That saves you £215 per year compared to buying TheMusicLicence.
You probably think you're too small to be noticed. That's a dangerous assumption.
PPL and PRS employ inspectors who visit businesses across the UK. They do not wear uniforms. They can walk into your salon, book a trim, or buy a coffee, all while recording evidence that you are playing unlicensed music.
If caught, you cannot simply say "sorry" and turn it off.
1. Retroactive Charges
PRS can charge you for up to 6 years of unpaid licence fees. If you have been open for five years without a licence, they can send you a bill for all five years at once.
2. Legal Costs and Fines
If you ignore their letters, they take you to court.
Socialite Bar in London was ordered to pay £19,000 in legal costs and damages in 2015.
Weston Mill Hotel in Devon was fined £3,200 in 2017 for playing music without a licence.
The fines are always significantly higher than the cost of the licence itself.
How Sonosfera works (and why it’s cheaper)
So how can Sonosfera be legal if it costs less than TheMusicLicence?
TheMusicLicence is a "blanket licence." It covers millions of popular songs from the top 40 charts. Because it covers everything from The Beatles to Taylor Swift, it is expensive.
Sonosfera works differently. We license music directly from independent artists and rights holders who want their music heard in businesses like yours.
We pay them directly. This bypasses the PPL and PRS entirely. You can read more about how our licensing works.
Because we cut out the middlemen and the massive administrative overhead of the collection societies, we can offer a fully legal, commercial streaming service for £19.99 a month.
No PPL fees.
No PRS fees.
No TheMusicLicence required.
You get curated playlists designed for salons, spas, and retail environments—Chill House, Acoustic Covers, Lo-Fi Beats—without the £335 annual bill.
Key takeaway: You don't need to play Top 40 hits to create a great atmosphere. You just need high-quality background music that fits your brand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I play the radio in my salon instead?
A: No, not for free. Even though the radio station pays a licence to broadcast the music, that does not cover your "public performance" of it. If you play BBC Radio 1 or Heart FM in your business, you still need TheMusicLicence.
Q: What if I play music from a CD or vinyl I bought?
A: You still need a licence. Buying the physical CD gives you the right to listen to it privately. It does not give you the right to broadcast it to your customers and staff. The medium (CD, MP3, Stream, Vinyl) does not matter; the act of playing it in public does.
Q: Does a TV licence cover music?
A: No. A TV licence covers the reception of the broadcast signal. It does not cover the copyright of the music played within TV programmes. If you have a TV in your waiting area playing music channels or shows with background music, you need both a TV Licence and TheMusicLicence.
Q: How do inspectors know if I'm playing music?
A: Inspectors visit businesses anonymously. They also monitor social media. If you post an Instagram Story of your salon with a popular song playing in the background, that is evidence of unlicensed music use. They are thorough, and they are active.
Q: Is royalty-free music the same as Sonosfera?
A: Yes and no. "Royalty-free" is a generic term. Sonosfera is a commercial streaming platform that uses direct-licensed music (which is often called royalty-free because you don't pay collection societies). The difference is curation. We don't just give you a database of tracks; we give you curated playlists that actually sound good in a business setting.
The £200 Decision
You have a business to run. You don't have time to worry about copyright law, inspectors, or retroactive fines.
But you also shouldn't have to pay £335+ a year just to have some background noise.
The math is simple:
TheMusicLicence: ~£335/year.
Sonosfera: £167.88/year.
That is a saving of over £185 a year—enough to pay for your broadband or a decent staff party.
Sonosfera is built by a salon owner who got tired of the PPL/PRS letters. It is designed to be the "set it and forget it" solution for UK businesses.
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