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Free Checker

Work out your
licensing position.

Six questions about how your venue uses music. You will get a plain-English summary of where each of your music sources sits, and the exact questions to put to PPL PRS about your own position.

This tool will not tell you whether you need a licence. Only PPL PRS can confirm that for your venue. What it will do is make sure you walk into that conversation knowing what to ask. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere, it all happens on this page.

1. What kind of venue do you run?

2. Is a radio ever on where customers can hear it?

FM, DAB or internet radio. Behind the bar counts.

3. Do you play Spotify, Apple Music or another personal streaming service?

4. Any TVs with the sound audible to customers?

Sport with commentary, music channels, anything customers can hear.

5. A jukebox, or live music, DJs or karaoke, ever?

Even occasional events count for licensing purposes.

6. Do you play a background playlist, from CDs, downloads, or a royalty-free music library?

Please answer all six questions first.

What you told us you play

    Worth a walk round before you call. The licence follows the source rather than the room, so anything that plays music or broadcast counts on its own account: a radio in a kitchen or workshop, a television in a back office or showroom, someone running a phone through a speaker, or the occasional live act. These are the ones that catch venues out.

    Before you call, two things that make the difference

    1. Ask the narrow question, not the broad one. "Do I need a licence?" will get you a general answer about businesses in the abstract. A question about your actual setup gets you an answer they can stand behind. The questions below are written narrow on purpose.
    2. Get the answer in writing. Ask for the reply by email, and note the name and role of whoever gives it to you. A phone call is worth very little three months later, whichever way the answer goes.

    Questions to put to PPL PRS

    Built from your answers. PPL PRS are the people who can answer these for your venue.

      If you are asking about SoundPour specifically

      They will want to know what the music actually is. This is a factual description of what we supply, which you are welcome to read out on the call or forward by email.

      All tracks are original compositions, produced under a paid commercial licence, and supplied to the venue under a subscription. No track is registered with PRS for Music, PPL, or any other collecting society, in the UK or elsewhere. No track is a cover, arrangement or adaptation of an existing work. The supplier maintains dated production records for the catalogue, available on reasonable request. The supplier retains copyright and grants the venue a licence to play the music on its premises.

      That is a description of the music. It is not a statement about what your venue is required to license, and we are not going to make one. How the licensing works.

      The short version

      Only PPL PRS can confirm what your venue needs to license. This page gives you the questions, not the answer. If you would like documentation about the music itself for that conversation, including a written Declaration of Provenance, email us and we will supply it.

      This checker is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the published positions of UK government, PRS for Music and PPL. Sources: gov.uk business music licensing · PRS policy on AI works · PPL PRS, TheMusicLicence. Last reviewed 8 August 2026.

      Private beta - free for 90 days

      Original music, with the paperwork.

      SoundPour is original background music for UK venues, from morning coffee to last orders, supplied with a written Declaration of Provenance covering your catalogue. Drop us your business name and email and we will come back to you within 24 hours.

      Start your free beta

      or email us directly: hello@soundpour.co.uk