5 ways businesses overpay for TheMusicLicence — and how to fix them

TheMusicLicence is priced on premises size, usage type, hours and more. Because there are so many inputs, small mistakes quietly inflate bills — often by hundreds or thousands of pounds a year across a multi-site estate. Here are the five we see most.

1. Non-public space counted as audible area

Floor area accessible to customers is usually the biggest cost driver. Storerooms, offices, corridors and staff-only areas are frequently included by mistake, pushing you into a higher band than you belong in.

2. The wrong usage category

Being billed for live entertainment, DJ nights or dance facilities when you only play background music is a common and expensive misclassification.

3. Licences never re-assessed

Refits, downsizing, closed sites or a change in how you use music all affect the fee — but licences are often left untouched for years, so you keep paying against out-of-date details.

4. Historic surcharges carried forward

A first-year surcharge for a previously-unlicensed period is sometimes carried forward incorrectly into later years, long after it should have dropped off.

5. Paying across sites without a portfolio view

Multi-site businesses rarely compare tariffs across their estate. The same error repeated across ten or fifteen sites is where the biggest recoveries usually hide.

How to fix it

Every one of these is correctable — the licensing body will adjust your licence when the details are put right, and refunds are sometimes available for past overpayments. The quickest way to find out is to have your invoices reviewed. We do that for free, and only charge a share of what we actually 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.