Proposed UK PPL price hikes condemned by trade

Proposed licence fee hikes by Phonographic Performance Ltd in the UK have got licensees up in arms.

The rises, by as much as 1,200 per cent in the case of a four-hour Specially Featured Entertainment licence (up from £30 to £380) on top of the cost of a DJ will prove the last straw for many club owners.

Other fee increases mean that the cost of the PPL fee for a five-hour SFE licence (coupled with capacity for 2,500) would rise 3,100 per cent from £129 to over £4,000!

The new rates would affect pubs, clubs, hotels and even cafés and they’d probably spell the death-knell for DJs too as proprietors could no longer afford to licence their playing.

Live bands, however, escape the proposed levy hike.

The increases have been called for by PPL as it does not consider the current rates a “fair reflection” of the value of the licence.