Had a letter from PPL PRS? Take a breath.
You probably do need a music licence — but you might not need to pay what they’re asking. We’re independent specialists who check your bill, get you onto the correct, lowest compliant tariff, and explain the whole thing in plain English. No savings, no fee.
If you're already on the correct, lowest tariff, we'll tell you — and you'll owe us nothing.
Group of 4+ sites? The estate review is free to start. Just one site? The £99 invoice check gives you a written verdict in five working days.
Many businesses may be paying more than they need to.
TheMusicLicence is priced on premises size, usage type, speaker counts and more. Where those details are outdated or incorrectly recorded — an old floorplan, a misclassified usage category — a business can end up paying more than the tariff actually requires. It's your responsibility to keep the information used to calculate your licence accurate and up to date.
Charged for non-public spaces
Storerooms and staff-only areas accidentally included in your “audible area”.
Wrong usage category
Billed as live entertainment when only background music is actually used.
Never re-assessed
Licences left untouched after refits, downsizing or changes in music usage.
Historic surcharges
Surcharges for past unlicensed periods still carried forward incorrectly.
Three steps. No cost unless we save you money.
Send us your invoice
Upload your latest PPL PRS / TheMusicLicence invoice and a short description of how you use music in your business.
We run the audit
We check your tariff, floor area and usage against the licensing rules to find overcharges and cheaper compliant options.
You keep the difference
If we find savings, we help implement the changes. You pay 20% of the money we actually save you — nothing if we find nothing.
What an audit typically finds.
How much could you be overpaying?
Move the slider to your current annual music-licence spend to see the kind of reduction a correction typically delivers where we find a billing or tariff error. It's an illustration, not a quote — and if your invoice is already accurate, there's nothing to recover.
If we find savings, you keep them — we charge 20% of what we actually recover. If we find nothing, it costs you nothing.
Get my exact number — freeIllustration only — actual savings depend on whether a correctable error exists on your account. How we estimateSetting up a new licence? We handle it end to end.
Opening new sites or licensing music for the first time? We manage the complete PPL PRS procurement process on your behalf — so your licence is right from day one, not something you have to fix later.
Get ahead of it. PPL PRS can add a first-year surcharge — up to 50% on some PRS for Music tariffs — where music was already being used without a licence. Arranging your licence proactively means you're simply never in that position.
We deal with the licensing body, the forms and the follow-ups — you stay focused on opening and running your sites.
We make sure you’re quoted on the right tariffs from the start, so you never inherit years of avoidable overcharges.
Floor areas, usage categories and site details recorded correctly — a compliant licence that reflects how you actually use music.
For music-using businesses of every size.
Whether you run a single café or a fifteen-site group, the same wrong tariff or backdated bill can cost you — and smaller businesses often feel it hardest, precisely because they don't have a team to unpick licensing rules. We do that part for you, whatever your size, and you only pay if we save you money.
Hear “this PPL PRS bill looks mad” from clients? Refer them — we check it, on their side, no savings no fee. It reflects well on you, and it can't backfire.
Independent, and on your side.
Music Licence Consulting is an independent UK consultancy. We help businesses make sense of TheMusicLicence — the combined PPL and PRS for Music licence — check whether the bill is right, get you onto the correct, lowest compliant tariff, and explain the whole thing in plain English. No savings, no fee.
MLC was founded by a specialist with years of experience in commercial music licensing, who has seen first-hand how business music licences are assessed and priced — and where the common billing errors creep in. That expertise now works exclusively for you, not the licensing bodies.
We're not here to help anyone dodge a licence they genuinely need. We believe artists should be paid fairly — and that you should pay fairly too: the right amount, not a penny more. Most business owners we speak to are happy to pay their fair share; what they resent is feeling pressured, confused or singled out. So we start by listening.
More about how we workMLC is an independent consultancy. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of PPL PRS Ltd, PRS for Music or PPL. “TheMusicLicence” is a registered trademark of its respective owner.
Questions we get a lot.
Yes. You are entitled to have an independent expert review your licence costs and request corrections or alternative options on your behalf.
Still curious? Read our guides — including the complete UK music licence guide.
Understand your music licence.
Talk it through with someone who gets it.
Book a free Sanity Call. In 20 minutes you'll know whether your bill is right, whether you're on the correct tariff, and your options — no jargon, no obligation. We'll tell you honestly if there's nothing to fix.
Secure, confidential, and no obligation.Prefer email? matt@musiclicenceconsulting.com