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Are you listening to music at your place of work without a PRS Music Licence? If so you’re probably breaking the law.

Most of the music you listen to is under copyright. The creators of that music are legally entitled to receive royalties as payment when their music is used, that's how most of them earn a living. If you are listening to music at your place of work you need a PRS Music Licence. This includes music played by any means, including live performance, CD, radio, TV, on telephone systems, internet, plus many more.

PRS - the Performing Right Society - is a not-for-profit membership organisation which licenses music use by businesses and distributes royalties to the writers and publishers of the music.

Why do I need a PRS Music Licence?

By law under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, if you use music in public (i.e. outside of the home), you require the permission of every writer or composer of the music you intend to play. This means you would have to contact thousands of music creators to obtain their agreement to play their songs in your business or organisation. So, to make things easy, PRS was set up by songwriters, composers and music publishers to manage this process on their behalf. A PRS Music Licence means you have the music creators’ permission to play music in your business from a worldwide repertoire of around 10 million songs – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A PRS Music Licence is flexible and can be tailored to your needs, to ensure you are covered to play music on your premises either live or by any recorded means.

As it is a legal requirement to gain permission from the music creator to play their music outside of the home. If you continue to play copyright music without a PRS Music Licence you may have to pay cost or damages if PRS has to take legal action.

How much will a PRS Music Licence cost?

The cost of a PRS Music Licence can depend on various factors:

The type of premises
The size of premises
The nature and extent to which music is used

We have over 40 tariffs covering everything from music in shops to music on hold, to ensure a fair charge for your music use.

For full details of prices to use music in your business please select an option from the left-hand navigation or for an accurate quote please call us on 0800 068 4828.

Are you looking to reproduce music on your product or service, e.g. on an audio or audio-visual product?

Further Information

If you require further information about your licensing requirements and copyright law visit www.businesslink.gov.uk or www.ipo.gov.uk.

Please call us on 0800 068 4828 to discuss your music use and licensing requirements. Obtaining your licence is quick and easy. Alternatively apply online by filling in our application form and we will call you back with a quote.

Research

Research has shown that music can be a powerful tool, it can be used to help create the chosen image of your business, motivate staff and increase sales. For more information on the benefits of music please click on the links below:

Atmosphere
Attraction
Motivate staff
Increase sales