How we estimate savings

Savings are conditional, not guaranteed

TheMusicLicence is calculated from your specific premises and how you use music. Where the details on your invoice are accurate, the bill is correct and there is nothing to recover. A saving only arises where we identify a genuine billing or tariff error. That is why the estimator is framed as a conditional range: where we do find an error, the corrected annual cost is typically reduced by 15–30%; where the invoice is already accurate, the saving is nil — and there is no fee.

Where corrections come from

Because the fee has so many inputs, the same handful of correctable errors recur. Each maps to a specific tariff rule:

• Over-stated audible area. Area is banded, and the steps are real money — on the PRS shops tariff the standard charge rises roughly £246.80 (≤100m²) → £359.90 (101–200m²) → £473.70 (201–300m²), so one band too high costs £110+ a year on the PRS side alone.
• A carried-forward first-year higher rate. The PRS higher royalty rate (standard + 50%) applies for the first year only; if it's still on the bill in year two or beyond, that's a provable overcharge.
• Usage mis-classification. Background music billed under a live-entertainment or specially-featured-entertainment tariff.
• Wrong tariff for the setting. For example, a car-dealership showroom billed against a motor-vehicle tariff rather than the retail tariff.
• Stale or duplicate records. Sites closed, downsized or refitted but still billed at the old basis, or duplicated across accounts; incorrect staff, seating or capacity figures.

How we verify a saving

We check your invoice line by line against the official published PPL and PRS for Music tariffs for your business type. A saving is only counted once the corrected annual cost is confirmed in writing by the relevant licensing body — we don't count estimates or assumptions as savings.

What we charge

20% plus VAT (if applicable) of the verified saving or recovery. If there's no verified saving, there's no fee. We agree the comparison basis before contacting any third party.

Tariff figures are 2026 editions, exclusive of VAT, and re-index annually on staggered dates — treat any figure as a snapshot. Music Licence Consulting is an independent consultancy and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, PPL PRS Ltd, PPL or PRS for Music.