Blanket Licence Agreements

Blanket Licence Agreements

Some larger Independants and Broadcasters pay a yearly fee to PRS for Music which allows them to use any PRS managed music without obtaining an individual licence every time music is used. This is called a Blanket Licence Agreement.

If your production company or Broadcaster has a blanket licence agreement with PRS for Music, then you won't have to pay for the music directly from your production budget, but you must still fill in a music cue sheet to report what you are using.

Larger production companies will often have a music clearance dept (BBC, ITV,C4,C5 have these) who will deal with the publisher or PRS for Music for you. Just let them know what you need.

Some music will fall outside the scope of the blanket licence agreement so don't assume you can use a piece of music without checking first.

If you don't have a department for clearing music then you'll have to contact the music owner yourself.