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Playing music in public places

Under UK copyright law - the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 - permission is needed from copyright holders (the people who create music) to play or perform music in public. 

Many businesses and organisations play music for their customers and their employees. Most of these will require a licence to do so.

Music licensing bodies

​The UK's main music licensing organisations are:

• PRS for Music - represents composers and music publishers and collects royalties on their behalf whenever their music is publicly performed
• PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) - licenses the public performance and broadcast (including online) of sound recordings on behalf of record companies and the musicians on the recording

​Both are collective management companies that issue licences and collect royalties for the use of copyright-protected music on behalf of their members. Without these organisations, businesses (pubs and hairdressers, for example) would have to contact songwriters and music publishers directly to obtain permission to use their music. 

Previously, people had to buy two separate licences from PPL and PRS for Music.​​ The two organisations have set up PPL PRS Ltd to offer a single joint licence. For further information see: PPL PRS: What is TheMusicLicence?

Who needs a licence?

Gov.uk sets out a list of the places that require a license to play music in public:  

• shops
• offices and factories
• hairdressers and beauty salons
• cinemas and theatres
• hotels and guesthouses
• restaurants and cafes
• pubs, bars and nightclubs
• sports grounds and other sporting facilities (such as bowling alleys)
• gyms and other health facilities
• bingo halls and casinos
• social clubs and members’ clubs
• churches and halls
• public transport

What does ‘playing in public’ mean?

There is no statutory definition of “playing in public”, but the courts have given guidance on its meaning and ruled that it is “any playing of music outside of a domestic setting”.

The PPL PRS website has a section explaining what "public performance" means.

Further sources of help

• Gov.uk, Get a licence to play live or recorded music
• PPL website, Help centre - FAQs, policies and user guides
• PRS for Music website, Get a music licence