Digital Music Licence FAQs

The LOML licence covers:

The Limited Online Music Licence is an annual licence that covers the communication to the public and associated mechanical rights of our members' repertoire through digital services.

The LOML licence does not cover:

• Synchronisation rights.

If you have licensed the synchronisation rights via MCPS Production Music, you will require a Performing Right Online Licence (PROL). For advice on how to clear synchronization rights or information on which rightsholders to contact, please reach out to us at synclicensing@prsformusic.com.

• Certain repertoire works are not licensed for online karaoke services.
• Sound recording rights
• Services operating outside the UK
• Use of music in adverts, sponsorship or corporate videos
• Adaptations of works
• Content on third party websites and social media platforms such as YouTube or Facebook.
• Use of music in businesses via streaming, music on demand and previewing clips. For example, a small business which uses music to compliment a staff quiz would need a Digital Music Licence for Business. 
• A place of worship wishing to use music in their stream of a worship service, wedding or funeral. 

Small digital services in the UK for those offering: 

• music on demand
• music download
• podcasts
• fitness services
• karaoke
• Internet Radio Stations

The Limited Online Music Licence lasts for 12 months from the date of purchase.

The Limited Online Music Licence is an annual blanket licence. If you’re only using music for a set number of months, you can choose to be charged pro-rata for these months, subject to a minimum fee of £94 + VAT. You'll need to pay a licence fee for each type of activity.

Use this guide to see which is the right licence band for you.

The number of webcast streams is determined by calculating how many times each individual work has been listened to. For example, a radio station which has 100 listeners and broadcasts 25 musical works to those listeners will use an allocated total of 2,500 streams.

We will only charge you for the period of the year in which you operate, and fees will be pro-rated subject to a minimum licence fee .fee. In addition, you should be aware that usage limitations, such as the number of streams within each band, will also be pro-rated.

The Digital Music Licence for Business is designed for businesses making music available digitally as part of a service from which no revenue is derived from the use of the music and/or content containing music.

Types of music usage in this licence includes: 

• Streaming  
• Clips (previewing 30 second clips of tracks)   
• On Demand streaming & downloads of non-music focused content 

Rights included within this licence: 

• The communication to the public of PRS repertoire  
• The communication to the public of Production music sound recordings  
• Mechanical rights in MCPS repertoire 

If customers require any other type of usage, please visit our website to buy a suitable licence.  

The licence does not provide the rights to sound recordings of commercial music, which are (typically) owned by record labels and not licensed by us.

This licence does not cover: 

• B2B, for example, a business supplying music to places of worship for use in worship services. It does not permit the use of general entertainment content, such as TV programmes, or the use of music in advertising campaigns, sponsorship, or in corporate videos for conferences. 
• Synchronisation rights

This licence does not cover any public performance rights and should not be confused with Tariff I– Music in the Workplace, administered by PPL PRS, which applies to the public performance of audible background music for employees in workplaces such as offices and factories. 

Music usage excluded within the scope of this licence is: 

• Podcasts 
• Internet radio stations 
• Digital education and fitness providers 
• Worship 
• On demand music streaming & music downloads

Customers can use 180,000 streams or 500 clips or 6,500 on demand streaming hours or 360 downloaded hours per licence year.

If you require more music usage, you can purchase two blocks.

Yes. A music licence is required whenever our members’ repertoire is made available for online usage. A clip is an excerpt of a musical work primarily used for preview or promotional use, for example clips made available on an artist’s website to promote their music. Clips must be no longer than 30 seconds long if the total duration of the musical work is under ten minutes or less. The Digital Music Licence for Business will cover you for preview clips.

The Worship licence covers:

Communication to the public and mechanical rights for:

• Streaming worship services, as well as funerals and weddings, on their own website and third-party platforms in video or audio format. 
• Activities associated with worship (outside of the list of excluded activities), such as sharing links to worship services via email, or the occasional meeting associated with worship on third-party platforms such as Zoom or Teams.

This Worship licence does not cover:

• B2B, for example, a business supplying music to places of worship for use in worship services. It does not permit the use of general entertainment content, such as TV programmes, or the use of music in advertising campaigns, sponsorship, or in corporate videos for conferences. 
• Synchronisation rights

Music usage excluded within the scope of this licence is: 

• Podcasts 
• Internet radio stations
• Digital education 
• Fitness providers 
• On demand music streaming & music downloads 
• Online Live Concerts

The CCLI Streaming Licence solely covers CCLI repertoire, whereas the Digital Music Licence for Worship gains you access to the 42 million works we represent, not limited to one genre.  

The PPL Church Licence does not cover online communication rights, so you do still need to purchase the Digital Music Licence for Worship if you stream services online.

If you exclusively use out-of-copyright music, the Digital Music Licence for Worship may not be required. However, always ensure the piece of music you intend to use isn't under copyright. For instance, rearrangements may still necessitate licensing. Information on how you can search for works covered by PRS can be found here.

No, this license solely applies to religious organisations. Third parties renting facilities, such as for concerts they plan to stream online, are not licensed under the Digital Music Licence for Worship.

No, the Digital Music Licence for Worship does not cover copying services onto CD or USB drive. This requires a separate license.

Generally, the license does not cover social media platforms like YouTube or Facebook, including embedded links from these websites. These platforms typically have their own licensing agreements.

The Digital Music Licences for Schools, Further and Higher Education covers the communication, mechanical, and synchronization rights associated with works by PRS for Music and MCPS members. These rights extend to the usage of music on the educational institution's online platforms.

The licences can also be obtained by student unions to cover clubs and societies affiliated with the institution.

The licence is applicable to both campus-based and online courses at colleges and universities.

The Digital Music Licence for Further and Higher Education covers the copyright associated with the institution’s music use on its own platforms, and certain third-party platforms such as Zoom and Teams.

The licences do not include:

• Coverage for student radio stations
• Coverage podcasts
• Coverage for advertising or sponsorship campaigns
• Coverage for short courses or commercial e-learning courses
• Use of platforms like Spotify and YouTube; these platforms have separate agreements and are licensed for personal use only.  

	Per Student   - Standard	Per Student   - Enhanced
Further Education	£0.83	£1.24
Higher Education	£1.66	£2.89
Schools	£0.83	-

Whilst educational copyright exceptions exist for music use in teaching instruction and private study, this use must be within fair usage limitations and do not extend to music used in communication with the public (including via online modes communication). 

The Digital Music Licence for Further and Higher Education provides comprehensive coverage beyond these exceptions, ensuring institutions can utilize music beyond the restrictions of these exceptions.

No, we license the service hosting the content and not the individuals who upload works onto the service, therefore it is the service providers’ responsibility to take out the licence.

We do however recommend you use licensed platforms to ensure works written by our members and members of affiliated societies are licensed appropriately.

If you are amending or making changes to the musical work when recording the cover version, you will need prior approval from the rights holders.

No. In relation to audio-only content, it is the service provider’s responsibility to take out the licence. The social media provider you are using would be the entity communicating music to the public and reproducing it digitally. You will only need a licence if you wish to make content available on your own service.

When music is used in conjunction with a visual element an extra right is present which is deemed a ‘synchronisation’ right. In order to clear this right, you may need to seek prior approval from the rights holders before you supply or upload such content to third party platforms.

If your podcast has already cleared the necessary synchronisation rights at the point of creation, is audio only and is available on your own website for audiences to download or stream on demand, then you will need this licence. If you are creating a podcast regardless of where it will be distributed and wish to incorporate our members music into the content itself, then you will need an additional synchronisation licence.

If your podcast is only available via platforms / DSPs then you don’t require this licence, however, please ensure that you have any synchronisation licences in place if you’re incorporating our members repertoire into your content.

Audio only content

Audiovisual podcasts or audiobook titles will need to obtain the necessary rights directly with the rightsholders. For the communication to the public rights of audio-visual content we can offer customers the Performing Right Online Licence (PROL). 

Digital services (+ websites) that offer podcasts & audiobook content to a UK audience. Whether the content is produced by the platform or made available to download or stream on demand on the platform, if the material contains our members’ repertoire the platform / website or DSP will need this licence.  

No synchronisation rights have been granted under this licence i.e. the initial copying of works into the content. Creators / producers of content will be required to licence those rights from the rightsholders directly.

A rate per music hour (RPMH) is a fixed royalty rate for 1 hour (60mins) of music regardless of whether the content is downloaded or streamed. As the amount of our members’ music used can vary between podcast episodes and audiobooks, we believe a royalty rate based on consumption is fairest method of calculating the royalty, the royalty will only apply when our members music is used. If your estimated music hours are less than or equal to 12,368 in a 12-month period, you can purchase the licence via our Music shop.

To help ensure our members are fairly remunerated for the music they’ve created, we require platforms & DSPs to report to us both music usage (cue sheets) and consumption data (number of streams or downloads) on a quarterly basis. Customers who purchase the licence via our music shop and whose annual music hours are less than or equal to 12,368 are not subjected to the quarterly reporting schedule, however customers may be asked to submit reporting at the end of their licence period to ensure they still fall under the permissible music hours.

Please click here to view the cue sheet template