Terms

PPL - Phonographic Performance Limited

VPL - Video Performance Limited

Q) Why do I need a Licence?

A) PPL state that getting the right licence is a legal requirement.  If you play recorded music or music videos in public, or broadcast them (or copy them in order to do so) in the UK, you will be infringing copyright unless you are appropriately licensed by PPL.

Q) Is there a licence for the public use of sound recordings at domestic events, eg. Birthdays, Weddings?

A) PPL state For Domestic events (eg. birthdays, weddings), no PPL licence is required.

Further information about public use of sound recordings for DJs (Mobile DJ Tariff Licence)  can be found here

Q) Who requires a licence for playing music in public?

A) PPL state that whether you are playing the radio, CDs, TV’s or using a more specialist music service provided by a PPL licensed supplier, you are required by law to have a PPL licence for playing music in public.

Below you will find listed the most common ways in which music is used in hotels, guesthouses & holiday parks, leisure, health & fitness, offices & factories, pubs, bars & nightclubs, restaurants & cafes, shops & stores, social clubs, public vehicles/transport,  events and exhibitions, educational establishments, cinemas & theatres, churches, halls & government buildings. 

If any further information is required please contact PPL on 020 7534 1000.

Aircraft

Amateur dramatics

Amusement arcades

Background music

Background music/TV - Background music public houses/bars/restaurants & cafes;

Background music small residential hotels & guest houses;

Background music caravan parks; Background music holiday centres 

Bingo Halls

Boats/ships

Bus, train & underground stations

Café, bar, restaurants

Casinos

Cinemas

Coaches

Concert venues

Concerts

Dance centre and studio

Dance teachers/studios

Discos/DJ presentations - Specially featured entertainment; Dance supplement holiday centres 

Exercise/aerobics classes

Exhibitions

Fashion shows 

Folk/Scottish/Country & western dancing - Scottish/highland country dancing; 

Folk club dances; Country & western dances; Practice/social dance

Gym workout

Gymnastic clubs

Hair & beauty salons

Jukeboxes - Jukebox rates (jukeboxes with BGM facility); Jukebox rates

Laser space games

Listening posts/touch screens

Museums & art galleries

Music videos - Background; Foreground

Nightclubs

Offices 

One off events 

Pop Quizzes

Public address systems

Schools & colleges 

Shops

Skating rinks/ski slopes

Spectator sports

Swimming pools

Synchronised swimming

Telephone music on hold

Ten pin bowling alleys

Theatres

Theatrical productions

Theme parks/visitor attractions

Waiting rooms/receptions areas

Q) Who gives PPL the power to grant a licence?

A) PPL state that PPL was set up by the UK's copyright owners themselves and it is through them that PPL acquires the legal entitlement to grant your licence.  On joining, recorded music and music video copyright owners legally transfer the relevant rights to us, or appoint us as their agent to exercise them. 

The result is that PPL effectively becomes the copyright owner, and is therefore able to grant collective licences authorising you to play in public, or broadcast, all of its members' recorded music or music videos in the UK.   Those collective licences can also cover the copying of recorded music and music videos for certain purposes (e.g. where businesses provide jukeboxes, hard disk systems and other music/video services to other businesses) but for other acts of copying you may require the direct permission of the relevant record company.

This means that you can legitimately use a vast range of recorded music or music videos without needing separate licences from each record company, etc; instead, you simply need the appropriate PPL licence.

PPL was established in 1934 by the UK recording industry to administer the copyright in public performance of their sound recordings. PPL operate under the terms of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (1911 Copyright Act in the Channel Islands). The Act provides that a fee is payable to the copyright owner in a sound recording whenever it is broadcast or played in public 

Note: There is no section of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 that creates PPL or gives it the power to grant licences.

Q) Is the PPL Licence all that I need?

A) PPL state that PPL is not the same as the Performing Right Society (PRS), the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) or the MCPS-PRS Alliance.

Whenever a sound recording or music video is played in public or broadcast in the UK, a PRS licence is likely to be required in addition to a licence from PPL.  Similarly, you are likely to need a PPL licence as well as an MCPS licence to copy a sound recording or music video in the UK.

This is because the law protects separately the underlying musical and lyrical compositions (e.g. the “song”) embodied in sound recordings and music videos.  The rights in those musical and lyrical works are owned separately (by composers/publishers) and licensed collectively on behalf of those separate copyright owners by PRS and MCPS (who operate together as the MCPS-PRS Alliance).

PPL also state there are two separate copyrights in a sound recording and a licence is required for each one:

The copyright in the lyrics and composition are owned by the author and music publisher and this is administered by PRS.
The copyright in the performance and sound recording are owned by the performers and record company and administered by PPL.
As PRS and PPL operate for different rights owners they have always remained as separate companies.

Q) What is the PPL definition of playing music in public?

A) PPL state that playing recorded music or music videos “in public” (sometimes referred to as “public performance”) has a wider legal meaning than you might think.

For example, it is not confined to playing recorded music or music videos in places to which the general public have access, or in an outdoor public space.

It effectively covers any playing of recorded music or music videos in a commercial, non-domestic setting – so the back room of a shop, or even a home office, may require a licence (but a private wedding party at a hotel may not).  It also covers playing recorded music on your premises via radio/TV.

PPL also state a public performance occurs whenever sound recordings are played outside the domestic or family circle. Whenever, a sound recording is played in a commercial environment, even if only one person can hear it, it becomes a public performance and a fee is payable to PPL.

Q) What is the PPL definition of broadcasting?

A) PPL state that it is not just “broadcasting” in the sense of terrestrial or satellite TV or radio broadcasts which require a licence.

It is also a legal requirement under UK copyright law to obtain a licence for online and mobile transmissions of recorded music and music videos (all of which fall under “communication to the public”).

In addition to “traditional” broadcast licences, PPL now issues a range of online and mobile licences, although for some online/mobile uses you will require the direct permission of the relevant record company.

Q) If I've already paid for my CDs, do I need a Licence to play them?

A) PPL state that when you buy a CD it only gives you the right to use it for private use such as playing at home or in your car. If you wish to use it in a commercial environment, such as background music in a shop you require a licence from the rights owner which in this case is PPL.

Q) Where does the licence money go?

A) PPL state all licence fees collected (less administration costs) are distributed to the recording companies, individual artists and musicians that have contributed to the recordings.

Q) What type of music can not be used for public performance?

A) PPL state:

- Illegal Downloads (from P2P Networks etc.)
- Unlicensed Internet Radio Services 
- Licensed On Demand / Interactive music services (Napster, Yahoo Music etc.). These are services that let users play specific tracks in an order of their choosing or to create customised 'radio' stations playing a range of music / artists they have selected. It is our understanding that such services are only licensed by the record companies for personal individual use and not for public performance use.

Q) What type of music can be used for public performance?

A) PPL state:

- Legally purchased downloads on condition that the usage complies with the Digital Rights Management (DRM) rules accompanying the download. For example, if the download is restricted to being held and played back from a specific PC or MP3 player, the public performance has to be sourced from that PC or MP3 player. If the download rules allow the track to be burnt to a CD that CD can then be used for public performance in the same way as any conventional commercial CD.

- Licensed streamed non-interactive Internet radio services (this would include the Internet broadcasts of licensed commercial radio stations such as Capital, XFM etc. as well as Internet only radio services that have proper licences in place).

Q) What happens if I do not obtain the appropriate licence?

A) PPL state that hundreds of thousands of businesses and broadcasters are licensed by PPL and are therefore able to make lawful use of recorded music and music videos.  However, please be aware that failure or refusal to obtain the appropriate PPL licence can have serious consequences, and may ultimately result in a court order to stop you playing sound recordings or music videos altogether until all outstanding fees are paid in full – as well as making you pay interest and costs.