Licences to use music online or on mobile technology

What this covers

You may need a licence to use copyright music online or on mobiles

It applies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Why you need it

This is not a statutory licence. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is the legal framework behind it and is cited here as the anchor, but that instrument creates no licensing scheme, imposes no duty on anyone to hold a licence, and makes operating without one no offence. The permission you need comes from somewhere other than a public authority — the note above says where.

What the Act carries

These are the duties, penalties and exemptions our graph holds for Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as a whole — the Act behind this licence, not the licence conditions themselves. They show what sort of instrument you are dealing with.

Duties on businesses

43

Penalties

27

Exemptions

81

Duties on businesses under the Act

• Respect the exclusive rights of copyright owners and authors s.2
• Do not import infringing copies of copyrighted works s.22
• Do not possess or deal in copyrighted goods without a licence s.23
• Do not provide tools or systems for making illegal copies s.24
• Prevent unlicensed copyright performances on your premises s.25
• Prevent unauthorized public performance using your equipment s.26

… and 37 more business duties in the same Act.

What happens if you get it wrong

• Comply with a court order to surrender or destroy illicit recordings 10 years imprisonment
• Do not import, possess, sell or distribute illicit recordings 10 years imprisonment
• Do not mis‑attribute works when selling or displaying them 10 years imprisonment
• Do not import unauthorised copyrighted material 10 years imprisonment
• Avoid using recordings without proper consent 10 years imprisonment

… and 22 more penalties in the same Act.

Exemptions that may take you outside it

• Advertising the sale of artistic works exempt from copyright infringement — Copies made solely for the purpose of advertising the sale of the work
• Author identification not required unless right is actively asserted — The right to be identified has not been asserted in accordance with section 78
• Authorised bodies exempt from copyright for accessible versions of works — Authorised body producing accessible copies for disabled persons on a non-profit basis
• Authorised bodies exempt from copyright on intermediate accessible copies — Action performed by an authorised body for the purpose of creating accessible copies for disabled persons
• Broadcasters and regulators exempt from copyright for supervision recordings — Recording programs for the purpose of maintaining supervision and control, or for performing statutory regulatory functions

… and 76 more exemptions in the same Act.

Read our full dossier on Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Who issues it

This one does not go to your council. These are contractual licences bought from the collecting societies — PRS for Music for composers, lyricists and publishers, PPL for record companies and performers, VPL for music videos — and not a permit granted by any statutory regulator; IPO is the sponsoring body for the underlying copyright framework.

The national body we hold against it is Intellectual Property Office.

Where to apply

Our guidance on this

Everything below is written out in full elsewhere on Guvnor — this page points at it rather than repeating it.

Licences that often go with this one

Businesses in the same activities usually need one or more of these too.

Duty, penalty and exemption labels are Guvnor’s analysis of the enabling instrument, not the instrument itself. Fees, forms and conditions are set by the issuing authority — always check the linked source.

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