The Performing Rights Society (PRS) is to join forces with Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) and create a new music licensing process.
According to a PRS for Music spokesperson, the two organisations intend to offer one licence called TheMusicLicence, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser reports.
The representative said this should “simplify the licensing process for our customers”.
This comes after the issue of music licensing hit the headlines when a publican in Devon was censured for playing copyrighted music without a licence.
Mark David Newton, proprietor of the Weston Mill Hotel in Plymouth, Devon, was ordered to pay legal costs of more than £3,000 and banned from playing copyrighted music until he had the required licences in place.
The PRS for Music spokesperson acknowledged that it considers legal action to be “very much a last resort”, but said “unfortunately it is sometimes necessary”.
The representative added that purchasing a music licence for public performance from PRS for Music ensures that the creators of music, from publishers to composers and songwriters, are “paid fairly and legitimately for their work”.
For further information on any of the points raised in this article please contact Robert Botkai in our Licensing Department
