Playing background music in your store has many benefits, not just for your customers, but for your staff too. From influencing buying behaviour to reducing stress and encouraging productivity, background music helps to create the perfect environment to encourage your customers to add more items to their baskets.
However, finding the right music, not just in terms of style but cost too, is key if you want to create the perfect ambience that’s also good value for money.
This article looks at the different ways you can play in-store background music and why licence-free music is the perfect option.
Playing Background Music in Your Retail Store
If you want to use music to create a great atmosphere in your shop, it’s not as straightforward as picking a tune and pressing play. Soundtracks for business use need to have the appropriate music licence to avoid the risk of paying a hefty fine from PRS PPL. If you’re unsure if you need a music licence, make sure you do your research before you start playing any type of music.
The cost of a licence is determined by the size of the audible area of your shop. For example, if it’s up to 100m2 the cost of a combined PRS PPL licence is £428.20 plus VAT for a year. That’s a high cost for a relatively small shop space.
So, what are the alternatives?
Royalty-free music
Royalty-free music can be played without the need for a music licence because the copyright owners are not registered with PRS PPL to collect their royalties. They still get paid for their music being played in public, but it’s done differently via a music licensing company.
Non-PRS PPL music is much cheaper to play, and with the right provider, you can still play high-quality music that creates the right atmosphere for your store.
The Best Royalty-Free Music for Shops
We’re Background Sounds and we’re experts when it comes to licence-free music for shops. We supply retailers across the UK with high-quality background music that can be played legally without a PRS PPL music licence.
To give you peace of mind, we can provide a certificate of subscription that can be passed on to PPL PRS. Handy to have as they will ask you for evdience that you have an agreement with a reputable royalty-free provider for your music.
⭐️ Top Tip: Before you switch, make sure you give the appropriate notice period to PPL PRS to avoid any additional charges or your licence renewing automatically.
Playlists Designed by Music Experts
Our streaming music platform gives you an easy way to play license-free music. You can stream the music using a phone, tablet, PC or laptop. Set up is easy and takes just a couple of minutes.
There are over 50 playlists for you to choose from, covering over 20 genres, so there’s something there to suit all tastes. We also have a retail tab in our playlist library that gives you a list of recommended playlists selected for shops.
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
Popular Royalty-Free Playlists for Shops
We have a wide range of tracks and playlists specifically designed for retail premises, covering everything from upbeat to pop and easy listening. We add new music to the playlist library every month, as well as new playlists throughout the year.
Below are some of our most popular playlists but you can check out all 57 playlists and listen to samples here.
🎄 We also supply royalty-free Christmas music!
How the Service Works
We provide a music subscription for businesses, giving them access to our extensive playlist library. A monthly subscription provides flexibility with the option to cancel anytime. Or you can take up an annual subscription and make a significant saving.
You pay per site, regardless of the size which can represent a huge saving compared to a music licence. Taking the example of a 100m2 shop, the saving is over £300 a year. That’s huge!
Subscription Packages – Royalty-Free Music for Shops
Sound good?
You can listen to all our playlists and test your audio setup when you take a free 7-day trial. There’s no obligation to buy, and no card details are required, so it’s RISK-FREE for you!
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding using royalty-free music in your business or the service we offer, get in touch! Email support@backgroundsounds.co.uk
Background Sounds is a specialist provider of royalty-free music. Working with small businesses looking to play music without the need to buy a PRS PPL Music Licence.
The service is available via online streaming and can be accessed when you take a subscription. You can find out all you need to know on our home page here.
This post was last updated on 1st April 2025
