FAQs

• TheMusicLicence allows you to legally play and perform music in your business, whether through the radio, TV, other devices and/or live performances.
• If you play or perform music in your business or organisation in the UK, you will usually need TheMusicLicence. It will cover you, with one licence and one invoice, for the use of virtually all commercially released music available – millions of songs and recordings, including the most popular and well-loved music not just from the UK but also from around the world.

• PPL PRS Ltd is a new company, equally owned by PPL and PRS for Music. It has been created to provide customers with a streamlined music licensing service – TheMusicLicence – with a single point of contact to make it easier to legally play and perform music in public.
• Previously, businesses and organisations would have had to purchase two separate licences from PPL and PRS for Music instead.

• Our parent companies PPL and PRS for Music are both collective management organisations. They issue licences and collect royalties for certain uses of copyright-protected music, on behalf of their many thousands of members. They then distribute those royalties to members.
• PPL represents record companies and performers for the use of recorded music, while PRS for Music represents songwriters, composers and music publishers for the use of musical compositions and lyrics (for both recorded music and live performances).
• PPL and PRS for Music have set up PPL PRS Ltd to offer a single joint music licence, on behalf of them both, for playing and performing music in public.
• PPL and PRS for Music will continue to carry out everything else they do separately. This includes representing their members, collecting royalties from international societies, developing, setting and consulting on their tariffs and licensing schemes, and licensing their broadcast, online and recorded media customers.

• We will be moving existing customers over to TheMusicLicence in the twelve months following the launch of TheMusicLicence (the transitional year). We’re working hard to make sure the process is as seamless and easy as possible.
• We will move existing customers over to TheMusicLicence when they reach their PRS for Music licence review date (or, if they are an existing PPL customer only, their PPL licence expiry date) during the transitional year.
• We will be in touch with existing customers, in advance of their transition date, to explain in more detail how the transition process will work for them. If you currently pay for an existing PPL or PRS for Music licence by Direct Debit (DD), you do not have to do anything, your Direct Debit will be transferred over to PPL PRS Ltd for you.

• We will be in touch with existing customers, in advance of their transition date, to explain in more detail how the transition process will work for them. If you currently pay for an existing PPL or PRS for Music licence by Direct Debit (DD), you do not have to do anything, your Direct Debit will be transferred over to PPL PRS Ltd for you.

A number of PPL’s tariffs are subject to a 50% surcharge to discourage unlicensed music use and late payment of royalties, and to compensate for the associated costs. It is important to pay your invoice in full by the due date, otherwise a surcharge may be applied to your account. If a surcharge is applied, a separate surcharge invoice will be issued.

• Under The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, permission is needed from the copyright holders – generally those who create, record and publish music – in order to play or perform music in public (broadly, this means in any other context than a domestic one).
• Through their many thousands of members, PPL and PRS for Music manage these rights in the vast majority of commercially released music available, and license that music for use by businesses and organisations in the UK via TheMusicLicence.
• This means that, if you play or perform music in your business or organisation in the UK, you will usually need TheMusicLicence. Instead of potentially having to contact many thousands of music rights holders individually for permission to play or perform their music, TheMusicLicence gives you those permissions in a single, simple transaction.

• TheMusicLicence gives you the right to use all the music that PPL and PRS for Music can license in the UK on behalf of their members and affiliated international societies. This will cover the vast majority of commercially released music available from around the world, but very occasionally there may be some music which is not covered by TheMusicLicence, or for which you do not require TheMusicLicence. For more information, please visit What is TheMusicLicence?

• TheMusicLicence covers millions of songs and recordings, including the most popular and well-loved music not just from the UK but also from around the world.
• You can play or perform the music of specific artists only if you wish, but it will not affect the cost of your licence. That’s because the cost is not calculated based on which music artists you play, but instead depends on factors such as the size of your business or organisation and the ways you use music.

• The cost of TheMusicLicence for a particular business or organisation depends on a number of factors, such as the size of the business or organisation and the ways it uses music.
• PPL and PRS for Music each have a separate set of licensing tariffs, covering different business types or ways of using music. The tariffs applicable to a particular business or organisation set out the relevant factors for calculating what TheMusicLicence will cost.
• Things like the size of a business are measured in different ways under different tariffs, depending on what is appropriate for each business type. So, to calculate your fee, we may need you to provide information such as square meterage, number of employees, or venue capacity. We may also need to know the types of devices you use to play recorded music, and information about any live performances of music.
• Although we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the website information and pricing, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. Therefore please contact us directly to discuss the tariffs relevant to you and get an accurate quote for TheMusicLicence.

• PPL and PRS for Music will continue to set their respective licensing tariffs separately from each other. Those tariffs will be applied by PPL PRS Ltd when issuing TheMusicLicence to customers. PPL and PRS for Music will each continue to review the cost of their respective tariffs from time to time, but the launch of TheMusicLicence will not in itself affect the costs under those tariffs.

• When businesses and organisations pay PPL PRS Ltd for TheMusicLicence, we pass those royalties on to our parent companies, PPL and PRS for Music (after deduction of our running costs). The royalties are shared between PPL and PRS for Music based on which of their respective licensing tariffs apply to the music usage under your licence, and the costs due under those tariffs.
• PPL and PRS for Music each have databases storing details of millions of musical compositions and recordings. Together with a wealth of information about what music is being used by customers, this enables PPL and PRS for Music to determine fairly and efficiently which of their members to pay, and how much to pay them.
• This means that, by purchasing TheMusicLicence, you are supporting the future of music by helping to ensure its creators are paid for their work, so that the people who write, perform and record it can continue making the music you love.

• Click here to view TheMusicLicence terms and conditions.

The live music sector has changed dramatically since 1988, when the current tariff was set by the UK Copyright Tribunal.  As a membership organisation, PRS for Music has an obligation to ensure that its licences are fit for purpose – and in respect of Tariff LP that it recognises the valuable contribution the songwriter and publisher members of PRS for Music make to the live music industry. Therefore, a consultation exercise about the terms of Tariff LP was launched in April 2015.  The consultation was undertaken with PRS for Music members, licensees, stakeholders and the representative industry bodies in the live music sector.

This consultation was followed by an extended period of negotiation with the key representative bodies in the live music industry about revising the terms of Tariff LP.  The representative bodies included the Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), British Association of Concert Halls (BACH), Concert Promoters’ Association (CPA), Glastonbury Festivals Limited, Music Venue Trust (MVT), National Arenas Association (NAA), Society of London Theatre (SOLT), and the UK Theatre Association.

Agreement was reached with the representative bodies and in July 2017 the terms of an agreed Modified Tariff LP were submitted to the Copyright Tribunal for approval. The Copyright Tribunal approved the terms of the Modified Tariff LP in an Order dated 14 May 2018.

We were unable to confirm any changes until approval of the Modified Tariff LP was given by the Copyright Tribunal. The Copyright Tribunal approved the terms of the Modified Tariff LP in an Order dated 14 May 2018.

The new tariff will be effective from 11^th June 2018 and will apply to those events for which tickets went on general sale on or after this date.

(N.B. general sale excludes pre-sales to fan club members and members of exclusive ticketing arrangements only available to people affiliated to or customers of a particular product or service.)

The introduction of the Modified Tariff LP will not result in any changes to the frequency of your review.

The impact of the new terms will vary between licensees and will depend on the size and characteristics of each event (e.g. whether a Concert or a Qualifying Festival). For details on the new tariff charges, please see here or contact us speak to your account manager.

The headline tariff rate has increased to 4.2% (or 4% where the licensees elect to account to PRS for booking fees and other charges incurred by the consumer as part of the price of admission to the live event), save for festivals that meet certain qualifying criteria who will benefit from a reduced rate.

The revenues to which our tariff is applied have been clearly defined in the new tariff terms – see here for the details.

The rate for Qualifying Festivals has been reduced to 2.7% (or 2.5% where the licensee elects to account to PRS for booking fees and other charges incurred by the consumer as part of the price of admission to the live event).

The revenues to which our tariff is applied have been clearly defined in the new tariff terms – see here for the details

The revised tariff terms will only apply to events falling within the scope of Tariff LP.