1Do you need a music licence?
If customers can hear commercially released music, that is a public performance under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and you need permission. In practice that means the single joint licence PPL and PRS for Music sell together through PPL PRS, because a normal playlist crosses both of their repertoires.
There is no small premises exemption in the UK. The two provisions that came closest, sections 67 and 72(1B)(a) of the Act, were both repealed, the latter by regulation 4(1) of SI 2010/2694. So floor area, seat count and the number of loudspeakers make no difference, and it makes no difference whether the sound comes from a radio, a CD or a streaming account. If it can be heard by customers, it is licensable. Our UK music licensing guide works through the whole question in detail.
There are also no statutory damages here, as there are in the United States. A rights holder claims damages or an account of profits, with costs and an injunction on top, and PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one.
RadioB2B removes the question. Every right that exists in the catalogue is represented exclusively, in the United Kingdom and worldwide, by RadioPRO Ltd, a UK collective management organisation, and none of it is in the PRS for Music or PPL repertoire, so no public performance royalty arises on what you play through the service, as long as it is the only music you play.
2Programming for a calmer wait
This is the one setting where the music should never be noticed. Instrumental programming works better than anything with lyrics, because words compete with reading, with anxiety, and with the conversation at reception.
| Period | What works |
|---|---|
| Opening | Quiet instrumental near 60 BPM. The first appointments of the day are the most nervous ones. |
| Morning | Ambient or light classical around 70 BPM, low enough to talk across the desk. |
| Midday | Slightly warmer through the busiest reception period, still lyric free. |
| Afternoon | Back to 65 to 70 BPM for the longer treatment appointments. |
| Close | Unchanged. Nothing about the end of a clinic day should sound like a wind-down. |
You can try the scheduler free for 14 days, no card required, on the sign up page or the feature list on our home page.
3Zones: waiting room, treatment rooms, reception, staff room
Each independently controlled output is a zone, and each runs its own station and volume.
- The waiting room on the calm schedule above.
- Treatment rooms on their own zone, where a steady bed of sound helps cover handpiece noise from next door.
- Reception, where a low level of sound stops the waiting room hearing a patient confirm their details.
- The staff room, out of patient earshot entirely.
4Hardware you already own
There is nothing to buy, nothing to install and no app required: the player is a web page, so staff can run it from any laptop, tablet or phone, and it casts directly to Sonos, Chromecast and AirPlay. If the venue is already wired to a Sonos amp, that is the whole installation. The stations are plain audio streams, so they also open in tools such as VLC, and when the internet drops the player keeps going from a cached queue rather than leaving you in silence.
5Recall and appointment messages
Record your own audio and schedule it into the rotation. A hygiene recall prompt in the waiting room, a reminder about cancellation policy, or seasonal opening hours that stop on their own.
6What it costs
£99 a year, per year, flat, music included. That covers the full catalogue, background music video channels for any screens, the scheduler, your own announcements, staff accounts and the Music Licence Certificate. It does not scale with your floor area or your opening hours, which is the mechanism that makes a PPL PRS bill climb.
For comparison, a PPL PRS licence costs £168.71 a year plus VAT for an office with four staff or fewer, and PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one. Licence free playlist libraries in the UK sit at about £15 a month plus VAT, and licensed services that still leave you owing PPL PRS run from about £22 to £40 a zone a month. See how the routes compare.
Try it free or subscribe today
Start fourteen days free with no card, build a day's schedule and cast it through the Sonos or speakers you already have. Or subscribe now at £99 a year by card, bank transfer or PayPal, and print your certificate today.
7Questions
Do dental practices need a music licence?
Yes, if commercially released music is audible to patients. Playing music in a waiting room is a public performance under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and PPL PRS does license medical and dental premises.
Can music help with patient privacy?
It helps. A low, lyric-free bed of sound at reception raises the background level enough to blur a quiet conversation from a few feet away, which is why sound masking is common in clinical settings. It supports privacy practice, it does not replace it, and it is not a compliance control on its own.
Does music actually reduce patient anxiety?
There is reasonable evidence that calm, slow, instrumental music lowers self-reported anxiety in dental waiting rooms. Treat it as a real but modest effect. The tempo and the absence of lyrics matter more than the specific tracks.
What does it cost for a practice?
A flat £99 a year, including the music. For comparison, a PPL PRS licence costs £168.71 a year plus VAT for an office with four staff or fewer. PPL PRS can back-date a licence over any period you were playing music without one.
Cost figures are PPL PRS published examples and typical UK market pricing, not quotations. General information, not legal advice. See our Terms of Use and Service Agreement.