TheMusicLicence normally applies to commercial music played in a restaurant, and a restaurant raises a few questions a café or a pub does not: the kitchen radio, the tables outside, and an exemption you may have read about that turns out not to be British. Here is the whole picture, with the sources linked.
If your restaurant plays commercial music to diners, whether that is the radio, a streaming service or CDs, UK law treats it as playing music in public, and it normally requires TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS. That holds for a twenty-cover bistro as much as a large dining room, and for music played quietly behind conversation as much as music people come to hear.
TheMusicLicence covers the PPL PRS repertoire. Music with no members of PRS, PPL or their partner societies abroad behind it sits outside that repertoire. What that means for your restaurant is between you and PPL PRS.
Two organisations collect when music is played in public in the UK. PRS for Music collects for the people who wrote it, and PPL collects for the people who recorded it. Since 2018 they have billed together through PPL PRS Ltd, so a restaurant receives one invoice, TheMusicLicence, with two tariffs underneath it. The licence permits music from their combined repertoire, which PPL PRS describe as "the vast majority of commercially released music". Our café guide goes through how the licence works in more detail; everything there applies to a restaurant too.
PPL PRS put restaurants and cafés in the same sector, and their own published example, updated February 2026, is a restaurant or café with up to 30 seats and 400 square metres or less, playing music via a radio, at £400.81 a year plus VAT, or £1.10 a day. With VAT at 20% that is £480.97 on the invoice, and a restaurant that is not VAT registered cannot claim the VAT back, so £480.97 is what it pays. Live music is £15.11 per event for up to 100 people in their example.
For a restaurant, seats matter as well as floor area. More covers, a bigger dining room, music from a device rather than a radio, or live music on top will each move the figure, and PPL PRS quote the exact amount for your own premises. Our guide to how much a music licence costs sets out PPL PRS's examples for every type of venue, with what moves them up or down and the 50% first year surcharge worth avoiding.
A restaurant is two rooms with two kinds of music: whatever the diners hear, and the radio the brigade has on while they prep. The second one is easy to forget. PPL PRS answer it directly on their help page: "Even if you are only playing music in your business or organisation for employees, then you'll usually need TheMusicLicence." So a kitchen radio that no diner ever hears is not automatically outside the picture, and it is worth mentioning when you speak to PPL PRS, because it is part of how your venue uses music.
Outside tables raise two separate questions, and it helps to keep them apart.
TheMusicLicence. If music can be heard at your outside tables, tell PPL PRS about them when you get your quote. The fee is built from how and where music is used, and outside seating where the music carries may be part of that.
Premises licensing. This is a different law, the Licensing Act 2003, which covers England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own licensing law), and it asks whether music counts as "regulated entertainment" that your premises licence has to cover. The Act says that playing recorded music is not regulated entertainment "to the extent that it is incidental to some other activity", and background music behind a meal is the kind of situation that paragraph describes. There is also a separate exemption for live and recorded music between 8am and 11pm, to audiences of up to 500, at premises licensed to sell alcohol for drinking there and open for that purpose at the time. Whether your own arrangements fall within either is a question for your licensing authority, and any conditions on your premises licence still apply. Our pub guide covers music outdoors in more depth, and the same Act applies to restaurants.
Search for this topic and you will soon find a confident claim that restaurants smaller than 350 square metres, playing only the radio or television, are exempt from music licensing fees. That rule is real, but it is United States law: section 110(5)(B) of the US Copyright Act, where the threshold is 3,750 square feet, which converts to about 350 square metres. American pages about restaurant music repeat it, and it drifts into British searches from there.
UK law has no equivalent size threshold for restaurants, and PPL PRS publish no size below which a restaurant playing the radio needs no licence. Their smallest restaurant example is the 30-seat one above. If you have read that a small restaurant playing the radio is exempt, check where the page was written.
A personal Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music account is licensed for personal, non-commercial use, and Spotify's own guidance lists restaurants among the places it cannot be played. That is a contract with Spotify, separate from TheMusicLicence, and paying PPL PRS does not change it. Our guide to Spotify for business in the UK explains the two layers and what Spotify itself says.
TheMusicLicence covers music from writers, publishers, performers or record labels who are members of PRS for Music or PPL, or of their partner societies abroad. Music with no such members behind it sits outside that repertoire. Original, AI-generated music supplied under a commercial licence is one way that happens: PRS for Music's own published policy states that works "with no human author or with insufficient human contribution" cannot be registered with PRS. What that means for a particular restaurant depends on everything else played there, the kitchen radio included, which is why PPL PRS are the ones to confirm it rather than a music supplier.
This is how SoundPour is built: original background music for restaurants, cafés and bars, made for the shape of a service from lunch to last orders, curated by hand in Darlington, registered with no collecting society anywhere, and supplied with a written Declaration of Provenance you can put in front of PPL PRS. 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, with no VAT to add because SoundPour is not VAT registered. Whether both of those figures apply to your restaurant, or only one, is a matter for you and PPL PRS to establish. Our free checker walks through every music source in your building and gives you the questions to put to them.
Commercial music played to diners, whether radio, streaming or CDs, is a public performance, and TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS normally applies, however small the restaurant. TheMusicLicence covers the PPL PRS repertoire; music with no members of PRS, PPL or their partner societies abroad behind it sits outside it. Which of those describes your restaurant is a question for you and PPL PRS.
PPL PRS's own example, updated February 2026, is £400.81 a year plus VAT for a restaurant or café with up to 30 seats and 400 square metres or less playing music via a radio, which is £480.97 with VAT. More seats, a bigger room, music from a device, or live music at £15.11 per event for up to 100 people all move the figure. PPL PRS quote the exact amount for your premises.
Not a size-based one in UK law. The often-quoted exemption for restaurants under about 350 square metres playing only the radio or television is United States law, section 110(5)(B) of the US Copyright Act, where the threshold is 3,750 square feet. PPL PRS publish no size below which a UK restaurant playing the radio needs no licence.
PPL PRS say that even if music is only played for employees, you will usually need TheMusicLicence. A kitchen radio that diners never hear is still part of how your restaurant uses music, so mention it when you speak to PPL PRS.
Not from a personal account. Spotify's own guidance says it is for personal, non-commercial use and lists restaurants among the places it cannot be played. That is a contract with Spotify, separate from TheMusicLicence, and holding the licence does not change it.
The position above reflects the published guidance of PPL PRS, PRS for Music and UK government, and the text of the Licensing Act 2003. The original sources are linked here so you can read them yourself.
Related guides: Do you need a licence to play music in a café?, Do you need a music licence for a pub, bar or wine bar? and How much is a music licence?
This guide is general information about UK music licensing and entertainment licensing, not legal advice, and it does not determine what your restaurant is required to license or what your premises licence permits. SoundPour is not a law firm. The figures are PPL PRS's published examples at the date shown and are subject to change. The description reflects the current published positions of PPL PRS, PRS for Music and UK government. Confirm your own position with PPL PRS and your licensing authority before making any change to your arrangements. Last reviewed 25 September 2026.
SoundPour is original background music for restaurants, cafés and bars, 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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