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Copyright Licences for B&Bs
This is a highly confusing subject, and B&Bs have to face a plethora of different regulators. It seems ridiculous and disproportionate that a very small B&B should be expected to pay four different licences to four different authorities in order to let their guests watch TV, listen to radio and CDs or DVDs, for instance. – Yet that is the current legal situation.
Read on below for your guide to the current 'maze' of regulators and licences...
1) TV Licence:
If you offer short-stay accommodation to overnight visitors (eg as a B&B or guest house), and have television sets in your guest bedrooms, you will be covered for up to 15 bedrooms by the standard TV Licence, costing £147. You can if applying for a new licence, ask for a 'Hotel and Mobile Units Television Licence' (hotel licence), but this is the same cost for up to 15 TVs.
Despite its name, the "hotel" licence covers accommodation including guesthouses and B&Bs (and even campsites) as well as hotels.
The TV Licensing Authority says that you should always take out a TV licence if you are providing televisions for the use of paying guests. While staying on your property, guests are not covered by their home licence. There is one exception, long-term hotel residents (ie those staying over 28 days) are not covered by a hotel licence, they must have an ordinary television licence.
The fee for hotels and other guest accommodation is based on the number of units of overnight accommodation available to let and is calculated as follows for colour TVs:
£147 for the first 15 rooms where a TV is installed
A further £147 for each subsequent set of five rooms where a TV is installed
This licence covers all equipment provided by the accommodation owner. It does not cover the use of any TV set or other device which is not provided by the proprietor of the accommodation, which would need to be covered by a separate TV Licence.
For further infomation, go to www.tvlicensing.co.uk
The page covering hotels and B&Bs is here.
2) Performing Rights Society - PRS:
"Do B&Bs require a PRS licence for TV/radios in guest bedrooms?"
27 October 2010:
PRS introduces a "discretionary" policy waiving charges for small B&Bs
PRS for Music has now, after lengthy lobbying (see below), changed its policy. If your premises has 3 or fewer guest bedrooms and is your family home (and if it is NOT licensed for alcohol), they will on a "discretionary" basis waive licence fees.
For details, read the official PRS letter here.
20 Nov 2009:
BHA agrees that licence fees are payable for TVs or radios in guest bedrooms
On 20th November 2009, the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and PRS for Music have announced that they have reached an agreement over music played in hotel bedrooms, ending a long running dispute.
The BHA, the trade association for hotels, restaurants and caterers, has agreed to advise their members, and indeed all hotels, Guest Houses and B&Bs, to pay licence fees going forward for music played in hotel and B&B bedrooms, via TV, radio or any other device. A settlement has also been reached with respect to licence
fees disputed in previous years.
PRS for Music, the organisation representing songwriters, composers and music publishers, had been in discussion with the BHA (who were acting in this matter on behalf of all hotels, guest houses and B&Bs, as the legal issues are identical for all) for many years about whether music played in a hotel bedroom requires a licence from the copyright owners (represented by PRS for Music). The agreement follows several months of discussions after a European Court of Justice opinion confirmed that certain uses of music in hotel bedrooms do require a licence from the copyright holders of that music.
Debbie Mulloy, Commercial Director for PRS for Music's public performance team, said: 'We are delighted that we have been able to work with the BHA to reach a settlement. The provision of TVs and radios in hotel bedrooms is a clear benefit to hotels and their guests, and it's good news that our members will now receive royalties for the use of their work.'
Bob Cotton, Chief Executive of the British Hospitality Association, said: "It is good news that the hospitality industry will now have certainty about licences from PRS for Music for music in hotel bedrooms. This has been a very long standing dispute, but I am pleased it has been
settled at last."
For B&Bs and Guest Houses, as for hotels, the bad news is that this agreement brings to an end the dispute (and our previous stance of deferring payment whilst the legal dispute carried on) and acknowledges that the new legal reality (after an EU change in definition) means that "PRS for Music" are legally entitled to require B&Bs and Guest Houses with TVs or radios in guest rooms to pay a licence. Licences for music in guest bedrooms start from £44 plus VAT per year, for up to 15 bedrooms (more details are on the
PRS website).
The good news is that the settlement means that those who pay from 2009 onwards will NOT now be liable to pay six years back claims to 2003, as PRS had been pushing for.
Our Concerns
The Bed & BReakfast Association are concerned that B&B and Guest House owners have reported "aggressive" and "threatening" attitudes in the PRS call centre staff who are calling them to demand payment. We are also concerned that PRS are trying to double charge: the 'minimum' charge of some £44 covers up to 15 rooms and "corridors and foyers" - but if the B&B also has a radio or TV in its lounge or breakfast room, PRS seem to be demanding a much higher licence fee on the basis of music being played in a "public" room - and yet for B&Bs and Guest Houses (unlike say, large hotels), there is no public access and the guests whose music use is covered by the licence 'upstairs' as it were, are the same guests listening to the same music 'downstairs'.
We will also push for a reduced "entry level" licence for small B&Bs, who currently have to pay the same as a 15 bedroom hotel. We will also of course monitor the legal situation in case of future opportunities for challenge, as we are disappointed that the hospitality industry has not been able to win the legal argument about the use of TVs and radios in guest bedrooms.
To see the PRS tariff, click here.
The PRS's own Code of Practice is here:
PRS Code of Practice 
(PDF file, 367kb, 16 pages)
Extracts from the PRS's Code of Practice
[PRS's] commitment to you
In all your dealings with PRS for Music, you can expect that:
our staff are courteous and professional
we have trained our staff to ensure that they know and understand the contents of this Code
your music licensing requirements are clearly explained to you
When we carry out licensing campaigns, we will always send you a letter first. We also place details of our current licensing campaigns on our website with additional information to help you.
If you receive a telephone call from us without having received an introductory letter first, you can ask for this information to be sent to you before talking to us.
We aim to be fair and reasonable in both setting the tariffs and in their application.
a) Phoning PRS for Music:
You can phone our Customer Services team on 0845 309 3090, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm.
Calls will be charged at your provider’s Local Call or 0845 rate. Calls from mobiles may cost more.
b) Writing to us by post or email:
You can write to us using the contact details provided on any correspondence you have received from us. Alternatively, please write to:
Customer Services
PRS for Music
Elwes House
19 Church Walk
Peterborough
Cambs PE1 2UZ
We will acknowledge receipt of your letter within two days of receipt and we will reply fully within 14 days of receiving your letter.
You can email us at:
customerservice@prsformusic.com
We will acknowledge receipt of your email straight away and send you a reply within 14 days.
Making a complaint
If you are not satisfied with the service you have received from us, you should follow our complaints procedure which is set out below and which is also available on our website. The procedure is designed to be simple and quick.
Our complaints procedure can be used if you believe that:
we have failed to follow our own procedures, including anything detailed in this Code
we have charged you incorrectly
we have been discourteous or unprofessional towards you
we have unreasonably delayed or failed to take action
we have treated you unfairly in relation to other licensees or music users in similar circumstances
we have given you wrong or misleading information
If your complaint is about the terms and conditions of our licences or about any other matter not mentioned above, we will endeavour to address it. However, if your complaint is more properly dealt with by the Copyright Tribunal, a court or another judicial or regulatory body, we will explain this to you.
Our complaints procedure
Please write to:
Customer Services
PRS for Music
Elwes House
19 Church Walk
Peterborough
Cambs PE1 2UZ
We will acknowledge your complaint upon receipt.
We will send you a full written response within 28 days of receiving your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with this response, you should write to the Managing Director (at the same address) stating your reasons.
The Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our complaints procedure, or if you feel your complaint has not been handled correctly, you may refer your complaint to the Ombudsman for PRS for Music.
To contact the Ombudsman call:
0330 440 1601
Calls to this number will be charged at same rate as calls to 01 and 02 numbers.
Or see the website:
www.prsformusic-ombudsman.org.
3) Phonographic Performance Limited - PPL:
While PRS licences relate to the copyright in the music itself, there is a separate licence issued by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) which relates to the actual recording, whether on a CD, tape, or other format.
If you play music in your B&B or guest house "in public" from a record, tape, compact disc, video, etc, you require a PPL licence.
There are two types of PPL licence:
1) for the use of sound recordings as background music in breakfast rooms, bars and lounges
2) for the use of sound recordings as a featured attraction (eg at dances or discos)
Following a successful court case brought by the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) against Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) about the level of fees charged for licences, the PPL has issued a form you can use to claim a refund. This refund will be the difference between the fee paid between 2006 and 2009 and the fee set by the tribunal. However, there are a couple of caveats to this refund.
a) A refund cannot be claimed if the total repayment for the period is less than £50
b) If during that period you have paid your licence late, the tribunal has allowed PPL to charge 50% more, which reduces the amount of refund you are entitled to.
UPDATE: January 2013:
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) negotiated a new agreement with PPL from 1st January 2013, providing a special tariff for "hotel bedrooms" (which also covers B&Bs and guest houses).
The 2013 tariff is £46.92 per annum + VAT for up to 15 bedrooms.
See this page of the PPL website for details:
http://www.ppluk.com/I-Play-Music/Businesses/How-much-does-a-licence-cost/Business-type-1111112/
Also see this link to the new tariff:
http://www.ppluk.com/Documents/Tariff%20PDFs/PPLPP213.pdf
4) MPLC - Motion Picture Licensing Company:
In June 2017, this organisation (though it has been around for 30 years), started sending demands for payment to B&Bs and small hotels. This is because of a change in the law the previous year to harmonise it with EU law, which had the result of allowing the playing of broadcasts in "public" places, but giving copyright holders the right to charge for such broadcast plays. Case law has it that communal areas in B&Bs and hotels (eg lounges or dining rooms) are "public" places for these purposes. MPLC represent Hollywood film studios and TV production companies.
Unfortunately this is a complex issue. MPLC DO seem to have the law on their side (they are using similar legal justifications to those of PRS and PPL), but the copyright law in the UK is complex and illogical in this area and without test cases nobody can be sure what a court would decide. The law certainly urgently needs reform.
It is not a scam and as far as any experts can judge, the law does seem to allow what MPLC are doing (and indeed PRS & PPL, whose charges are based on the same quirk of the copyright law), so we cannot (of course) advise members not to pay.
(The issue of council tax or business rates is not relevant. The law at present holds that playing copyright material (even via a TV) to a paying guest in accommodation such as a hotel, guesthouse or B&B constitutes a "public performance" for the purposes of copyright. It is the fact that the guest is paying that is crucial.)
There is information about MPLC's concessions during lockdowns, which they granted last year following our representations, on our main member page - just log in with your password.
We and UK Hospitality are not happy with the way MPLC go about things and are trying to challenge the basis of their charging and some of their methods - UKH are leading on this and we will keep subscribing members advised as any new developments happen.
Meanwhile I am sure you will want to insist that MPLC detail how they are arriving at the charges, by reference to their public tariffs. From the tariff we have seen, the charge should be around £6 per letting bedroom.
There is a useful and informative podcast from UKH about MPLC here.
We believe the whole area of copyright law as regards TV and radio broadcasts in hotel and B&B rooms needs fundamental reform - but unfortunately there is little chance of DCMS making a priority of this in the forseeable future, so unfortunately we are stuck with yet another copyright licensing body to contend with.
For further information on the MPLC, go to the MPLC website.
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