Royalty-Free Music Is Your PRS Licence Loophole in 2026
If you’re looking for a way to play music in your business without the need to buy a PRS PPL Music Licence. You’re in the right place. Royalty-free music is a PRS PPL licence loophole that’s perfect for small businesses.
Buying a PRS PPL licence so that you can play background music in your business can be expensive. The cost of a licence depends on the type and size of your business. For example, to play music in a cafe or restaurant with up to 30 seats and 400 sq m or less in size, the cost is over £524 plus VAT per year.
The bigger the premises and the more staff you have, the higher the cost.
So, if you’re looking for an alternative to buying an expensive PRS PPL licence, royalty-free music is the answer. It gives you a cheaper way of legally playing a wide range of music, making it perfect for small businesses.
We’re Background Sounds and we specialise in supplying royalty-free music to businesses across the UK.
Our UK customers are saving hundreds, sometimes thousands, a year on their music, all because they swapped from PRS PPL to using our royalty-free music service!
What Is Royalty-Free Music?
Whilst there’s no PRS licence loophole that enables businesses to play commercial music without a PRS PPL Music Licence. You can play royalty-free music without one. This is because PRS and PPL (who operate The Music Licence) do not collect royalties for royalty-free music. In our case, the artists we use are paid via a music licensing company.
For a huge number of business owners, royalty-free music provides the perfect, cost-effective solution that allows them to play a wide range of music. Background music has many benefits for a business, including creating a welcoming atmosphere, helping to improve productivity and also increasing sales in retail premises.
Who Uses Royalty-Free Music?
Any business can play royalty-free music. Here’s a snapshot of the types of UK businesses currently using our service to give you an idea.
- Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bakeries
- Restaurants, Hotels, Bistros, Pubs and Bars
- Gyms, Health Clubs, Activity Centres, Yoga/Pilates studios and Skate Parks
- Dentists, Doctors, Therapists, Physios and Chiropractors
- Shops, Garden Centres and Charity Shops
- Hairdressers, Nail Salons, Spas and Wellness businesses
What Genres of Music Does Royalty Free Offer?
You can expect to see a large selection of genres from a good royalty-free provider. Background Sounds is partnered with an international music licensing agency that works with artists and composers all over the world. This means we’re able to offer our customers a wide and growing range of genres and subgenres. There really is something for everyone.
Royalty-Free Playlist Library
We add new music to our playlist library every month and new playlists throughout the year.
Currently, there are over 20 genres covered across 60+ playlists.
PRS Licence Loophole – How Do I Get Royalty-Free Music?
We recommend you use a reputable business to supply this music so that you have peace of mind that you are legally playing royalty-free music. A reputable company will provide you with a certificate that you can send on to PRS PPL as evidence that your music is royalty-free.
Background Sounds can provide all paying customers with a certificate, and it’s accepted by PRS and PPL. So when you join us, you’ll not only save money and play great music, you’ll have peace of mind too!
Lovely Atmosphere
It has helped to create a lovely atmosphere for our customers to shop in and for our staff and volunteers to work in.
Victoria Canavan
Love Mixing it Up
My team have become mini DJ’s as they love mixing up the music to suit the mood in the salon and the weather outside.
Nikki Froud
Love it!
Background Sounds is 100% perfect for my fitness business. Royalty-free playlists for every type of class, mood and energy level. From chilled out yoga to high energy techno! Love it 🙂
Soozi Kay
👋 Find out what UK businesses say about using Background Sounds in their businesses! You can read all our testimonials here.
Try Royalty-Free Music for Free
Trying out the royalty-free music service is the best way to find out if it’s right for you. That way, you can see what music is available, check if it fits with what you need in your business and try out the provider’s delivery method to make sure it’s compatible with your system.
We offer every business a free 7-day trial of our service, which gives you full access to our entire playlist library. It’s filled with over 60 fantastic royalty-free playlists covering a wide range of genres and styles, so you can create the perfect first impression and the right ambience for your business.
We don’t ask for your card details when you sign up for the trial, and there’s no hard sell from us if you decide we’re not the right fit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Royalty-Free Music & PRS PPL
Can I really play music in my business without a PRS PPL licence?
Yes, as long as the music is royalty-free. PRS and PPL collect royalties for copyrighted commercial music. If you use a legitimate royalty-free music provider, you can play music legally in your business without buying a PRS PPL Music Licence.
This is why royalty-free music is often referred to as a PRS PPL “loophole”, not because it’s illegal, but because it uses a different licensing model.
How do I prove to PRS or PPL that my music is royalty-free?
A reputable royalty-free music provider will supply a certificate of subscription confirming where your music comes from.
This certificate can be sent to PRS or PPL as evidence that:
- You are not using copyrighted commercial music
- No PRS/PPL royalties are due
Background Sounds provides this certificate to all paying customers on request.
Is royalty-free music suitable for customer-facing businesses?
Yes. Modern royalty-free music is professionally produced and specifically designed for use in public-facing businesses such as cafés, restaurants, shops, salons, gyms and clinics.
Good royalty-free providers curate playlists that:
- are appropriate for customers and staff
- avoid explicit lyrics
- suit different moods, tempos and business types
Many business owners who play our music report that their customers haven’t even noticed they swapped to playing roylaty-free music.
Questions?
We’re always happy to chat to customers, as we appreciate that if you are just discovering royalty-free music, you may have many questions. Please get in touch with us, we can chat about any licensing concerns you have, your tech setup and subscription options. Email support@backgroundsounds.co.uk
Background Sounds is a specialist provider of royalty-free music. We work with small businesses looking to play music without the need to buy a PRS PPL Music Licence. You can access the service via online streaming when you take a subscription. You can find out all you need to know on our home page
