How much does a business music licence cost in the UK?

If you play recorded or live music in a business in the UK — in a shop, restaurant, salon, gym, office or showroom — you almost certainly need TheMusicLicence, issued by PPL PRS Ltd on behalf of PPL and PRS for Music. But unlike a simple subscription, there is no single price. What you pay is calculated from your specific premises and how you use music. For the wider picture, start with our complete guide to the music licence.

What determines the cost

In most cases both a PPL tariff and a PRS for Music tariff apply, and the two organisations set their rates separately. The fee is driven by factors such as:

• The floor area that is audible to customers — usually the single biggest factor.
• How music is used: background music versus live performances, DJ nights, karaoke or dance facilities.
• Opening hours and days — venues open long hours or seven days a week typically pay more.
• The number of sites, devices and, on some tariffs, staff numbers or venue capacity.

To make that concrete, here are current published examples (2026 rates, excluding VAT — PPL and PRS re-index annually, so treat these as a snapshot):

• Small shop, background music, audible area up to 100m²: about £451 a year — PRS Tariff RS £246.80 plus PPL £204.19.
• Small office, up to 4 staff: about £169 a year.
• Restaurant or café playing the radio, up to 30 seats: about £401 a year (a CD player or jukebox pushes the PRS element higher).
• The largest commercial users can be billed several thousand pounds a year — and multi-site estates add up quickly.

Because rates change each year on staggered dates, always check the figure against the current published tariffs for your business type.

2026 tariff tables (a snapshot)

Most published guides won’t show you the actual grids. Here are the current ones for shops — all figures exclude VAT, are 2026 editions, and re-index annually (the PRS shops tariff each January), so treat them as a snapshot rather than a quote.

The PRS minimum annual charge is around £133.40; a single small radio/TV in ≤100m² can fall to that minimum. A ‘higher royalty rate’ (standard + 50%) applies in the first year only if you played music before getting licensed.

A shop’s total is the PRS figure plus the PPL figure — so a ≤100m² shop playing background music is roughly £246.80 + £204.19 = £450.99 + VAT.

Why businesses overpay

Because the fee depends on so many inputs, small inaccuracies quietly inflate the bill: storerooms or staff-only areas counted as audible area, usage classified as live entertainment when only background music is played, or licences never re-assessed after a refit or downsizing. The licensing body won’t proactively correct these for you.

The bottom line

There’s no fixed answer to “how much does a music licence cost” — but there is a right answer for your business, and it’s often lower than what’s on the invoice. If you’d like a second opinion, we’ll review your invoices for free and tell you whether there’s money to recover.

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and MLC is an independent consultancy — not affiliated with PPL PRS Ltd, PRS for Music or PPL.