PPL PRS publish worked examples, and almost nobody reads them. Here they are, with the figures as PPL PRS give them, what moves the number up or down, the first year surcharge to avoid, and what the money actually buys.
For most small venues, TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS costs between roughly £235 and £620 a year plus VAT for background music alone, depending on what kind of venue you run, how big the area is where customers can hear the music, and whether that music comes from a radio or from a device. Live music, a jukebox, DJs and TV sport are each charged on top.
Those are not our estimates. PPL PRS publish their own worked examples and update them each year. The current set is dated February 2026:
Every figure is PPL PRS's own, taken from their music licence cost page and their pubs and bars and restaurants and cafés pages, which say "cost examples updated as of February 2026" and "all cost examples are subject to change". Your own quote comes from PPL PRS and will differ if your premises differ.
Two organisations are being paid at once. PRS for Music collects for the people who wrote the music, and PPL collects for the people who recorded it. Since 2018 they have billed together as PPL PRS Ltd, so you get one invoice called TheMusicLicence, but underneath it are two tariffs, each with its own rules, added together. That is why the same room can produce quite different bills depending on how you answer their questions. PPL PRS say they need "square metreage, number of employees, or venue capacity" to quote, and in practice five things move the figure:
Several sites in one business are quoted separately. PPL PRS also say the licence is usually needed even where the music is only for staff, so a kitchen radio that customers never hear is not automatically outside the picture.
Thirty seats or fewer, 400 square metres or less, a radio on behind the counter: PPL PRS's example is £400.81 a year plus VAT, or £1.10 a day. With VAT at 20% that is £480.97 on the invoice, and a café that is not VAT registered cannot claim the VAT back, so £480.97 is what it actually pays. That is also the figure our own cost comparison starts from; put in your real bill if you know it. Playing from a device rather than a radio is worth asking PPL PRS about separately. The occasional acoustic evening adds £15.11 per event for up to 100 people.
Background music in an audible area of up to 400 square metres: £364.62 a year plus VAT, or 99p a day, in PPL PRS's example. A jukebox in the same size of pub is £616.24 a year. Live music is £14.64 per event for up to 100 people. TV sport, karaoke and a DJ are separate lines again, so the total for a busy sports pub with a jukebox and a Friday band is assembled from four or five uses, not one. Our pub and wine bar guide goes through how those pieces fit together and which of them a change of background music touches.
PPL PRS quote pubs and bars from the same sector page, so the same £364.62 example for background music is the place to start. Most wine bars have no jukebox, no TVs and no live acts, so their bill is usually that one line plus whatever the audible area adds. A cocktail bar with a weekend DJ has a DJ line on top, the same as a pub would.
The lowest published example on the list: £235.50 a year plus VAT for a single portable radio or a small television, audible over 50 square metres or less. PPL PRS's example is specific to that set-up. A shop playing recorded music through a speaker system, or with a bigger audible area, is quoted differently.
This is the line that can add half as much again to part of the bill. PPL PRS's own help page says: "Certain PRS for Music tariffs may apply a 50% increase on the applicable standard rate under those tariffs for the first year of the licence. This increase, known as a Higher Royalty Rate, would only apply if you were playing music without the appropriate licence, before being contacted by PPL PRS Ltd."
Three things follow from that wording. It is a first year charge, not a permanent one. It is applied to the PRS for Music tariffs it names, so it is an increase on part of the invoice rather than on the whole of it. And it turns on whether PPL PRS contacted you first. If you have just opened, or you have been playing music without a licence and you know it, the cheapest moment to sort it out is before the letter arrives.
PPL PRS also say you can spread the cost with a Direct Debit, which does not change the total but does change the month.
It is worth being clear about what TheMusicLicence buys, because it explains where the bill comes from. It is permission to play music from the PPL PRS repertoire: music from writers, publishers, performers or record labels who are members of PRS for Music or PPL, or of their partner societies abroad. That repertoire covers, in PPL PRS's words, "the vast majority of commercially released music", which is to say everything on the radio and everything on a streaming service. The licence exists because playing that music to the public is a use of it, and the people who made it are paid for the use through these two societies.
TheMusicLicence covers music inside the PPL PRS repertoire. Music with no members of PRS, PPL or their partner societies abroad behind it sits outside it. What that means for your venue is between you and PPL PRS.
That second sentence is easy to overlook. The tariffs above are the price of playing music from the repertoire. Original music with no members of PRS for Music, PPL or their partner societies abroad behind it sits outside that repertoire. What that means for a particular venue depends on every music source in the building, the radio in the kitchen included, which is why PPL PRS are the people to confirm it rather than any music supplier. Our free checker walks through the sources one at a time and gives you the questions to put to them.
SoundPour is original background music for cafés, bars and restaurants, made for the hours of a trading day and registered with no collecting society anywhere. It is free for the first 60 days, then £149 for the first year at the early sign-up price and £249 a year from year two, for one venue, with no VAT to add because SoundPour is not VAT registered, and with a written Declaration of Provenance covering the catalogue so you can put the paperwork in front of PPL PRS before you decide anything. Whether both of these figures apply to your venue, or only one, is a matter for you and PPL PRS to establish, and the paperwork is written for that conversation.
PPL PRS's own example, updated February 2026, is £364.62 a year plus VAT for a pub or bar with an audible area of up to 400 square metres playing background music. A jukebox in the same size of pub is £616.24, and live music is £14.64 per event for up to 100 people. TV sport, karaoke and DJs are separate uses that add to the bill. PPL PRS quote the exact figure for your own premises.
Since 2018 PRS for Music and PPL are charged together on one invoice as TheMusicLicence, so there is no separate PRS licence to buy. PPL PRS's own example, updated February 2026, is £400.81 a year plus VAT for a café or restaurant with up to 30 seats and 400 square metres or less playing music via a radio. Playing from a device or a jukebox, or adding live music, is quoted separately, so ask PPL PRS for your own set-up.
PPL PRS treat pubs and bars as one sector, so a bar's bill is assembled the same way as a pub's. Their February 2026 example is £364.62 a year plus VAT for background music in an audible area of up to 400 square metres. A jukebox, live music, DJs and TV sport are each charged on top.
Often, yes. PPL PRS's lowest published examples are all radio or TV only: a shop with a single portable radio or small television audible over 50 square metres or less is £235.50 a year plus VAT, and a salon with five seats or fewer playing the radio is £238.33. The tariffs treat radio and television differently from other recorded music, so a playlist from a device, a CD player or a commercial streaming service is worth asking about separately when you get your quote.
PPL PRS say that certain PRS for Music tariffs may apply a 50% increase on the standard rate for the first year of the licence, and that this Higher Royalty Rate would only apply if you were playing music without the appropriate licence before being contacted by PPL PRS. It is a first year charge, not a permanent one.
PPL and PRS for Music launched their joint venture, PPL PRS Ltd, in February 2018, and said at the time that its joint licence, TheMusicLicence, brought to an end the need for customers to buy separate PPL and PRS for Music licences. PPL PRS say the two organisations set their tariffs separately, and that in most cases both a PPL and a PRS for Music tariff will apply. They publish those individual tariffs, but the pub example they give is the combined one. So whichever name you search under, a PRS licence, a PPL licence or a music license in the American spelling, the figure to start from is £364.62 a year plus VAT: PPL PRS's 2026 example of the combined yearly cost for background music in a pub or bar with an audible area of no more than 400 square metres. A jukebox and live music are given as separate examples.
In PPL PRS's 2026 examples, live music to an audience of up to 100 people is £14.64 per event plus VAT in a pub or bar, and £15.11 per event plus VAT in a restaurant or café. PPL PRS also say they generally charge only a percentage of ticket sales for events. If you already hold TheMusicLicence, PPL PRS say they can amend the music usage on your existing licence to include an event. If you do not, and you are planning an event that includes music played or performed in public, they say they can arrange a temporary permit to cover the music at it. Whether the event needs anything under your premises licence is a separate question for your licensing authority; our pub and wine bar guide sets out what the Licensing Act 2003 says about live and recorded music.
The smallest yearly examples on PPL PRS's music licence cost page, updated February 2026, are £168.71 a year plus VAT for music in an office with four or fewer staff, £235.50 for a shop playing a single portable radio or small screen television in an audible area of 50 square metres or less, £238.33 for a hair or beauty salon with five or fewer seats playing the radio, and £345.00 for a fitness instructor holding three classes every week for 50 weeks of the year in a village hall, community centre or similar premises. In those examples the measure changes with the sector: staff for an office, audible area for a shop, seats for a salon, classes for a fitness instructor. A business with a different set-up is quoted on its own figures.
Ask PPL PRS for a quote. The examples on this page are their starting points, and the real figure depends on your own premises. New customers can ask for one through the form on PPL PRS's Get TheMusicLicence page, or call and speak to an adviser. PPL PRS ask you to read the Quote Checklist on their sector page first. The pubs and bars checklist asks, among other things, for the areas where music is used, the square metreage of each area where it is audible, the devices used to play it, the number and capacity of live events a year, the number of karaoke sessions, the number and type of jukeboxes, and the number of TV screens music videos are played on. PPL PRS say having that information ready lets them give an accurate quote.
Every price on this page is PPL PRS's own published example, quoted as they give it, with the date they give it. The original pages are linked here so you can check the current figures yourself; they change each year.
Related guides: Do you need a licence to play music in a café?, Do you need a music licence for a restaurant? and Do you need a music licence for a pub, bar or wine bar?
This guide is general information about UK music licensing costs, not legal or financial advice, and it does not determine what your venue is required to license or what your venue will be charged. SoundPour is not a law firm. The figures are PPL PRS's published examples at the date shown and are subject to change; your own quote comes from PPL PRS. Confirm your own position with PPL PRS before making any change to your licensing arrangements. Last reviewed 15 October 2026.
SoundPour is original background music for cafés, bars and restaurants, supplied with a written Declaration of Provenance covering your catalogue. Drop us your business name and email and we'll come back to you, usually within 24 hours, with the Documentation Pack included so you can show it to PPL PRS or your accountant first.
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