Music licensing in the United Kingdom
Streaming music in your business isn't the same as listening to music at home. When you play music for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you need different licenses.
Play it right
Soundtrack is built to bring you music thatās legal for your business. In most cases, everything you need is included in your plan. If you charge admission fees, play live music or timing music to exercise classes you may need additional permissions.
Recording rights
Allows you to stream a specific sound recording of a song
Publishing rights
Allows you to stream the original composition
Change the way you play
Soundtrack offers an excellent selection of music because of our direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organizations and record labels. These include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more. Our technology accurately tracks your song plays, which ensures that music creators get the right payments from us. Soundtrack Unlimited makes royalty payments about 5 times higher than streaming services for private use.
Music for business
Avoid legal concerns when playing music in your business. Use a suitable music provider (like Soundtrack) and check that you have the correct licenses in place.
Personal music services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer, are not approved for use in business environments.
Spotify
You canāt broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc. To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack.
Spotify for public or commercial useYouTube
You may access and use the Service as made available to you, as long as you comply with this Agreement and the law. You may view or listen to Content for your personal, non-commercial use.
YouTube Terms of ServiceDeezer
The use of the Site and Application is only authorized for a personal and private use, therefore any other use, notably in public premises and businesses, is strictly forbidden.
Terms of Use for the Deezer Free ServiceApple
You may use the Services and Content only for personal, noncommercial purposes (except as set forth in the App Store Content section below or as otherwise specified by Apple).
Apple Media Services Terms and ConditionsAmazon Music
You may use the Services only for your personal, non-commercial purposes.
Amazon Music Terms of UseGet licensed
Get your correct business licenses
If you don't have a public performance license from TheMusicLicence, please visit their website.
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Music licensing in the United Kingdom
Overview In the United Kingdom, under The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, permission is needed from the relevant copyright holders ā those people who create music ā in order to play or perform music in public. This is done via TheMusicLicence - which gives you this permission. PPL PRS Ltd collect license fees from UK businesses and organisations on behalf of their parent companies, PPL and PRS for Music. PPL then distributes these music license fees for the use of recorded music on behalf of record companies and performers, while PRS for Music distributes music license fees for the use of musical compositions and lyrics on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers. This ensures that the people who create music are fairly rewarded for their talent and work. History Originally named The Performing Right Society, PRS for Music was founded in 1914 by a group of music publishers who set out to protect copyright whilst enabling songwriters, publishers and composers to receive an income. Twenty years later, PPL was formed in 1934 by two record labels, Decca Records and EMI, following a notable court case involving a Bristol based cafe who played records to their customers. Despite focussing on different areas of music licensing, the two organisations came together in 2016 to form PPL PRS and with a new offering named TheMusicLicence. This allows companies the opportunity to purchase one overarching license to ensure that music creators are paid for their work, whilst also streamlining the process for businesses. How to get a license in the United Kingdom Various tariffs exist and the license cost is based on the type of business you have, as well as the nature of how music is being played. More information can be found on the website and an accurate quote can be requested online. Once purchased, the license is instantly activated and will last for an entire year.
Contact info
TheMusicLicence
PPL
PRS for Music