Pub music licence cost in 2026: what TheMusicLicence actually costs a pub, per week and per pint, and the 50% surcharge for playing without one

A pub up to 400 square metres playing the radio pays about £364.62 a year plus VAT for TheMusicLicence on the published 2026 example, which is roughly £7 a week. A jukebox in the same size of pub is £616.24 a year. A live band in front of up to 100 people is £14.64 for the night. At about £2.23 of gross profit on an average pint, the background music licence costs you three pints a week. It's the cheapest bit of atmosphere in the building. The expensive part is playing without one: PPL's own 2026 tariff adds a 50% surcharge to the fee if you've been playing recorded music unlicensed.

I've lost count of the times I've seen the question in the groups. Do I need one if it's just the radio? Is Spotify alright? What's this letter? So here's what it actually costs this year, from the people who charge it, worked out per pint like the rest of the bills.

What TheMusicLicence is

Playing music in public needs permission from the people who own it. In the UK that used to mean two licences, one from PRS for Music for the songwriters and one from PPL for the recordings. These days most businesses get both in one go as TheMusicLicence, from PPL PRS Ltd. If your pub plays recorded music where customers or staff can hear it, through a radio, a TV, a speaker, a phone or a jukebox, you'll usually need it.

It covers more than background music. PPL PRS lists live performances, DJs, karaoke, open mic, quiz music rounds and film screenings under the same licence for pubs. You tell them what you do and it's priced on that.

What it costs a pub in 2026

These are PPL PRS's own published examples for pubs and bars, all plus VAT, from its pub page (correct as of September 2026) and its sector cost page.

What you do	Published cost (+VAT)	Per week	Pints of GP to cover it*
Radio as background music, audible area up to 400m²	£364.62 a year	£7.01	3.1 a week
Jukebox, audible area up to 400m²	£616.24 a year	£11.85	5.3 a week
Live music, one-off event, up to 100 people	£14.64 a night	£14.64 if it's every week	6.6 a night

*At about £2.23 of gross profit on an average pint, the figure from my Sky Sports guide. Per week and pints are my arithmetic.

Those are "starts from" examples. Your quote depends on your audible area and on everything you use music for, and adding a jukebox, live nights or a DJ adds to it. Get a quote from PPL PRS for your exact setup.

How the size of your pub changes it

PPL publishes its 2026 background music tariff for pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels in full. It's priced on audible area, meaning every square metre where recorded music can be heard. That includes corridors, toilets and, in a pub, any restaurant or food area. Here's the PPL part on its own (the PRS part is added on top in TheMusicLicence).

Audible area	PPL background music fee 2026 (+VAT)
Up to 400m²	£204.19
401 to 450m²	£229.71
451 to 500m²	£255.23
551 to 600m²	£306.27
651 to 700m²	£357.31
951 to 1,000m²	£510.43

It goes up £25.52 for every extra 50m². If you work in square feet, multiply by 0.093 to get square metres. A 4,000 square foot bar and dining area is about 372m², so it sits in the bottom band.

The bit people miss is the garden. If you've got speakers out the back, that's audible area too, and a big garden can push a pub up a band or two. Declare the area where music is actually played. Don't guess low, because if they visit and the area's wrong, you're the one with the problem.

The cheap option for small pubs that only use radio or TV

PPL's tariff has a concession. If your audible area is 50m² or less, and you only play traditional radio and TV, you can get the PPL part at 50% of the bottom band fee. Traditional means BBC radio, licensed independent FM and AM stations, and BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, S4C and Five.

The conditions are strict. Over 50m², you don't qualify. Play a CD or anything else as well and you don't qualify. Charge for entry and you don't qualify. It's aimed at the tiny bar or micropub with a radio on the shelf, not a pub with a jukebox in the corner.

The Spotify question

This is the one that catches people. Spotify's own terms give you permission for personal, non-commercial use. A pub isn't personal use. Having TheMusicLicence doesn't change what Spotify's terms say either, so if you want playlists, use a service sold for business use and check its terms say so.

Same goes for the TV. If the telly's on in the bar and there's music on it, adverts and match build-up included, that's music being played in public. TheMusicLicence covers playing music through a TV. The TV licence is a separate thing again, and so is a commercial Sky or TNT subscription for the sport itself.

What it costs if you don't have one

PPL's 2026 tariff is blunt about it. If you've been playing recorded music in public without a licence, or without renewing one, the fees are subject to a 50% surcharge. On the bottom band PPL fee, that's £204.19 becoming £306.29 before you've even added the PRS side, plus they can work out a start date and charge from when you began playing. The tariff asks for the date you started playing music for exactly that reason.

On top of that, playing music without permission is a copyright issue. I'm not a lawyer and I won't pretend to know how every case ends, but a letter about it is a bad week you can avoid for three pints of margin.

Is it worth it?

My view: background music almost always pays for itself. PPL PRS points to a 2021 survey of 2,101 people it commissioned from Perspectus Global, where one in five pub-goers said they'd left a venue after realising no music was playing. That's their survey, so weigh it as you like. But you don't need a big number to cover three pints a week.

Live music is where the sums need doing. The licence is the cheap part at £14.64 for up to 100 people. The band, the extra staff and the extra stock are the real cost, and the stock is where a good night can quietly go wrong. Plan the order like any big night (the par levels guide covers it) and count the busy lines before and after, so you can see what the night actually made rather than what the till says it took.

How it sits next to your other bills

Put it next to the other overheads I've worked out per pint and it's small change:

• Sky Sports: published bills from about £754 to over £2,400 a month, tens of pints a week.
• Electricity: roughly 13p to 69p on every pint, depending on your rate and volume.
• Card fees: 6p to 9p on a £5.34 pint, depending on your provider.
• Music licence: about three pints a week for background music, on the published example.

If you're trying to find £50 a week, the music licence isn't where it is. Your wet stock usually is. A 2% gap between what's poured and what's rung through, on a pub doing £3,000 a week, is £60 a week, more than eight background music licences a year. The pub profit guide shows how thin the margin is that all of this comes out of.

Where StockTap fits

StockTap doesn't do licensing. What it does is keep the money side honest. The Finances screen tracks money in, money out and what's still owed, so the music licence sits with the rest of your bills instead of in a drawer, and the stock side shows you whether a live music night made what you think it made.

Common questions

How much is a music licence for a pub in 2026?

PPL PRS's published example for a pub up to 400 square metres playing the radio is £364.62 a year plus VAT. A jukebox in the same size of pub is £616.24 a year plus VAT, and a one-off live music event for up to 100 people is £14.64 plus VAT. Your quote depends on your audible area and what you use music for.

Do I need a music licence just for the radio?

Usually, yes. Playing the radio where customers or staff can hear it is playing music in public. Very small premises, 50 square metres or less, that only play traditional radio and TV broadcasts may qualify for a 50% concession on the PPL part.

Can I play Spotify in my pub?

Spotify's own terms grant personal, non-commercial use. A pub is commercial use, so use a music service sold for businesses and check its terms allow it.

What happens if I play music without a licence?

PPL's 2026 tariff adds a 50% surcharge to the fees if you've been playing recorded music without a licence, and it asks for the date you started so it can charge from then. It's also a copyright matter.

Does the beer garden count?

If music is audible there, yes. The PPL tariff is based on the total area where recordings can be heard, including toilets, corridors and food areas.