Making sense of SFE: what PPL charges for DJ nights and discos, in plain English

SFE stands for Specially Featured Entertainment. It's PPL's charge for nights when recorded music is the main event rather than the background: a DJ set, a disco, a dance. In 2026 it costs £1.41 for every hour of the event, for every group of up to 25 people who come through the door, plus VAT. That really is the whole idea. The rest of this guide shows you how to count those two things properly, because that's where most SFE bills go wrong.

SFE in 30 seconds#

• What it is: PPL's charge for recorded music played as the entertainment, not the backdrop.
• What it costs: £1.41 per hour, per group of up to 25 people, per event (licence years starting in 2026, before VAT).
• Who pays it: nightclubs, pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and hotels under PPL tariff PPLPP299, and since 2026 most other venues under PPLPP399, at the same rate.
• How it's billed: estimated at the start of your licence year, then checked against what actually happened, with an extra invoice or a credit.
• What it isn't: your whole music bill. PRS for Music charges separately for the songs, and background music the rest of the week sits on its own tariff.

What counts as SFE?#

Ask one question: is the music the reason people are there, or is it the backdrop? If it's the reason, it's SFE. It makes no difference whether the music comes from vinyl, CDs, a laptop or a stream.

Plenty of nights are a mix. Dinner with background music, then a DJ from 10pm: only the DJ part is SFE. The earlier part stays on your normal background music tariff, so make sure the two aren't lumped together.

How the fee is worked out: two numbers and one rate#

Every SFE night comes down to two things you can count yourself.

• 1. Groups of 25. Take everyone who came through the door for the event and split them into groups of 25. A part-full group counts as a whole one, so 135 people is 6 groups.
• 2. Hours. Time the event from when the DJ set or dance starts to when it finishes. Anything under an hour counts as an hour. After that, round up to the next half hour, so 3 hours 10 minutes is charged as 3½.
• 3. Multiply. Groups × hours × £1.41. For 135 people over 4 hours that's 6 × 4 × £1.41 = £33.84, which is exactly PPL's own worked example.

Try it below with a night of your own. The grid shows the idea: one row for each group of 25, one column for each hour, and every full square costs £1.41.

Counting your attendance the right way#

Attendance is the number that moves your bill most, and it's the one PPL's guidance notes are most specific about:

• Count everyone inside when the event starts, then add everyone who comes in while it's on. 50 at the start plus 125 arriving later is 175.
• Leave out staff on duty.
• Don't count people again when they come back from a cigarette or a phone call outside.
• If the event is in a separate room and can't really be heard elsewhere, count only the people admitted to that room.
• If you genuinely can't count everyone, make your best honest estimate once the night is over, and write it down.

For every event, record the date, the day, the duration, the attendance and the capacity of the room, and keep those records for six years. Our free SFE event log has a column for each, and opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. PPL PRS can ask to see them, and may sense-check your numbers against your capacity and publicly available information. Good records are also your best protection when an estimate on your bill is too high.

Why a few people or a few minutes can matter#

Because the fee moves in steps, small differences at the edges add up over a year. At 2026 rates, one extra group of 25 on a 4-hour night adds £5.64. On a weekly night that's £293.28 a year. An extra half hour for 6 groups adds £4.23 a night, or about £220 a year. None of that is a reason to under-report. It's a reason to report accurately: count the door properly, and time the event from start to finish rather than from doors open.

Big nights get a discount, for now#

When SFE moved to charging strictly per head, bills for big events jumped, so PPL agreed temporary discounts with the British Beer & Pub Association and UK Hospitality. Each discount applies to one event, based on that night's actual attendance:

PPL's example: 440 people for 5 hours is 18 groups × 5 hours × £1.41 = £126.90, less 7.5% = £117.38. The discounts shrink every couple of years and end for licence years starting in 2031.

How SFE is changing up to 2031#

In practice the rate per group is still climbing. PPL's own estimates put it at about £1.56 in 2027 and £1.63 in 2028. So a weekly night of 135 people for 4 hours, which costs £1,759.68 in 2026, would be roughly £1,946.88 in 2027 and £2,034.24 in 2028 before VAT, even if nothing about the night changes. The calculator above lets you switch between years.

Which year's rate applies to you?#

It depends on when your licence year starts, not on the date of the event. PPL's own example: if your licence started on 1 July 2025, every event up to 30 June 2026 is charged at the 2025 rate, and the 2026 rate starts on 1 July 2026. Check the start date on your licence before you check the maths.

Estimated in advance, trued up afterwards#

At renewal you give PPL PRS your best estimate of the coming year's events, attendances and durations, usually based on last year. At the end of the year they compare it with what actually happened and send an extra invoice or a credit note. If your nights turned out quieter, shorter or fewer than the estimate, you should get money back, but only if you send the real figures. Tell PPL PRS about material changes during the year too, such as stopping DJ nights, or opening or closing a venue.

If events ran without a licence#

If SFE events took place before you were licensed, or weren't paid for, PPL adds a surcharge of 50% of that year's SFE fees. It's capped per site: £1,125.20 for licence years starting in 2026, and £1,156.63 for 2025. If you've had a letter about unlicensed events, our surcharge checker and letter decoder will help you work out where you stand.

SFE is only half the story: PRS for Music charges too#

PPL licenses the recordings. PRS for Music licenses the songs, and it charges for DJ nights and discos in its own, different way:

• Hotels, restaurants and cafés (PRS Tariff HR): discos, karaoke and other featured recorded music are charged per function, on the room's capacity rather than the actual attendance: £15.71 for the first 100 people of capacity, plus £4.00 for each further 25 (standard rates from 1 July 2026).
• Pubs and bars (PRS Tariff 'P'): discos, karaoke and featured music are charged per session, based on the room's capacity. Our pub music licence guide explains how.
• Background music the rest of the time stays on your normal background tariffs, which our cost calculator works out for pubs, restaurants, hotels and more.

Putting it together: a hotel function room with a capacity of 200 holds a 4-hour wedding disco for 135 guests. PPL SFE is 6 groups × 4 hours × £1.41 = £33.84. PRS is £15.71 for the first 100 of capacity plus 4 × £4.00 for the next 100 = £31.71. So the night costs £65.55 plus VAT in music licensing.

Where SFE bills go wrong#

• Attendance taken from capacity or a full-house guess instead of the real door count.
• Duration measured from doors open to close, instead of from the start to the end of the DJ set or dance.
• The whole evening charged as SFE when dinner or the early evening was background music.
• An estimate from an older, busier year rolled forward and never trued up with real figures.
• The wrong year's rate, because the licence-year start date was misread.
• No big-event discount on nights of more than 300 people.
• A surcharge still charged after the licence was in place, or not capped at the per-site limit.

Check yours#

Your invoice shows a total for SFE, not the events behind it. Ask PPL PRS for the event details they used (the number of events, attendances and durations), then compare them with your own records and the calculator above. If you'd like a second opinion, one site gets a free Invoice Check with a written verdict in five working days, and four or more sites get a free estate review. MLC is independent and is not affiliated with PPL PRS, PPL or PRS for Music.

• Nightclub and DJ-night music licence costs →
• Music licence for pubs with DJ nights →
• How much is a music licence for a pub? →
• Music licensing glossary →

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and MLC is an independent consultancy, not affiliated with PPL PRS Ltd, PRS for Music or PPL.