What SoundPour music is, where it comes from, and how to check your own position. Most royalty-free music is not actually free of PRS and PPL fees, only the download is. SoundPour is built differently, and we would rather you understood exactly how before you pay us anything.
PRS for Music and PPL collect royalties on behalf of writers and performers who have signed up as members of those organisations. SoundPour's music sits outside that system: every track is generated using AI music tools on commercial paid plans, then reviewed and curated by hand here in Darlington. There are no PRS or PPL members behind the music, and SoundPour maintains dated production records for the catalogue.
PRS and PPL can only collect for music whose writers and performers are members. Nobody behind a SoundPour track is a member of either. That is the fact we can evidence. What it means for your particular venue is for you and PPL PRS to establish.
When a UK business pays the PPL PRS combined licence (called TheMusicLicence), the money is split between two organisations:
Both organisations only have authority to collect royalties for music whose creators are registered as members. The membership is voluntary. PRS has roughly 175,000 members; PPL has tens of thousands of performers and labels. Between them, they cover essentially all commercial music - every song you'd recognise from the radio, every album you've ever bought, every track on Spotify made by a working musician.
What they don't cover is music whose creators chose not to join.
Here's the trap. The term royalty-free has a specific meaning in the music industry, and it's not what most people think it means. It means: you pay a one-off fee for the right to download and use the track. You don't owe additional per-play royalties to the platform that sold it to you.
What it does not mean is that the underlying composer is unregistered with PRS. In fact, most royalty-free libraries work with composers who are PRO members, because being a PRO member is just what professional musicians do. So music from those libraries usually sits within the PPL PRS repertoire after all, whatever the library charged for the download.
This catches a lot of small businesses out, and PPL PRS know it.
Every SoundPour track starts with research into a specific genre - its instruments, its tempo range, its idioms, the kind of room it was originally made for. From there, prompts are carefully drafted, tested, refined and tested again, with the prompt rulebook updated each time something doesn't quite work. The audio is then generated by AI music tools on a paid commercial plan that explicitly grants resale and sublicensing rights. Every output gets reviewed by hand here in Darlington - listened to in full, judged for quality and atmosphere, named, tagged with mood and time-of-day metadata, and either kept or rejected. Most takes don't make the cut; only the ones that earn their place make it into the library.
The result is original work - not a sample, not a cover, not a derivative of an existing song. It's never registered with PRS, PPL, ASCAP, BMI, SACEM or any other collecting society anywhere in the world.
This is the central point, and it's confirmed by PRS for Music itself. Their published policy on AI and music copyright states that works "with no human author or with insufficient human contribution" cannot be registered with PRS. SoundPour tracks are produced on that basis, and none has been registered with PRS. The same principle applies to PPL, whose repertoire covers human performers and rights holders not present in AI-generated audio. UK government guidance on music licensing for businesses confirms that TheMusicLicence is required only for music that falls within PPL PRS's repertoire.
Under UK law specifically, ownership of these works is also clear. Section 9(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 recognises "computer-generated works with no human author" as a distinct category - the author for legal purposes is the person who arranged for the work to be created. SoundPour holds those rights and licenses them to you, for use at your premises, under a written agreement.
What you actually receive when you subscribe is what we call the Documentation Pack: a written licence, in your business name, to play the music at your premises, and a Declaration of Provenance covering your full catalogue. If PPL PRS get in touch, you have a factual account of what the music is, where it came from and how it is documented. What the pack does not do is answer for your venue. Your position depends on every music source on your premises, not only ours, and that is a matter between you and PPL PRS.
This table describes the music, not your obligations. Whether TheMusicLicence applies to your venue depends on everything you play, and PPL PRS are the ones who can confirm it.
Show them your Documentation Pack - your licence and the Declaration of Provenance covering your catalogue. Between them they set out what the SoundPour music is and where it came from, which is the part we can evidence. Their inspector is trained to ask follow-up questions, so don't be surprised if they want detail, and the documentation is written to answer that detail. What we are not going to do is tell you what to say about your own position, because that depends on everything played on your premises and not only on our part of it. If PPL PRS want provenance detail from us directly, we will supply it.
Two things, both delivered when you sign up: a written licence in your business name, giving you the right to play SoundPour music at your premises; and a Declaration of Provenance from SoundPour covering your full catalogue, suitable to share with PPL PRS, your accountant, or your solicitor. The Declaration is updated whenever significant new collections are added to your access.
That is a question for you and PPL PRS, and we are not going to answer it on your behalf. What we can tell you is what the music is: original, generated under paid commercial licence, not registered with any collecting society, and covered by a written Declaration of Provenance.
You also need to account for every other music source in the building. If you play radio (FM, DAB or internet), Spotify or any consumer streaming service, a jukebox or CD player, live music or DJs, or broadcast TV with audible music, those sources are unaffected by anything we supply and are covered by TheMusicLicence in the normal way.
We provide the documentation. You and PPL PRS settle the position.
You keep the right to use any tracks you've already received under your subscription. The subscription gives you ongoing access to new music; the licence to use what's already supplied doesn't depend on the subscription staying active. Full terms in our subscription agreement.
Commercial radio stations broadcast music from the PRS and PPL repertoire, so playing the radio in your venue sits squarely within what TheMusicLicence covers. That stays true whatever else you play alongside it. If you are thinking about changing your arrangements, PPL PRS are the ones who can tell you where that leaves you. We will give you the documentation about our music for that conversation, and we will leave the conversation itself to you.
Those are separate from background music and have their own licensing requirements. SoundPour is designed for ambient, in-venue background music. If you regularly host live performances or karaoke, you'll likely still need a separate licence for those activities. We're not trying to be your single answer for everything - just for the music playing while customers are in the room.
Genuine question, and we watch it closely. AI and copyright is a fast moving area of law. The UK government consultation on AI and copyright closed in February 2025, there is ongoing litigation in several jurisdictions, and there have been recent court decisions in Europe affecting AI music generators. Anyone telling you the position is settled for the next five years is overstating their case, and we are not going to do that.
What we can say is this. None of that changes what a SoundPour track is or how its provenance is documented. Section 9(3) of the CDPA 1988 has been on the statute books since 1988, so it is a deliberately written part of UK law rather than a loophole. We monitor developments, and if the position changes materially we will update our licence terms and tell customers directly.
The description above is drawn from the published positions of UK government, PRS for Music and PPL. The original sources are linked here so you can read them yourself or share them with a solicitor.
SoundPour is not a law firm and nothing on this page is legal advice. It is an explanation of how our service is structured and what we can evidence about the music. Whether TheMusicLicence applies to your venue is a matter for you and PPL PRS. We would encourage you to confirm your own position with them, and with your solicitor if you want to be thorough, before making any change to your licensing arrangements. Last reviewed 14 August 2026.
Drop us your business name and email and we'll come back to you within 24 hours. The Documentation Pack is included so you can show your accountant or solicitor before you commit to anything.
Start your free betaor email us directly: hello@soundpour.co.uk