Music licensing for brand video in the UK

By James Jones, founder of Granary Digital · Updated 5 November 2026

Music in a brand video needs two permissions, one for the song and one for the recording of it, and neither comes with a streaming account, a trending sound or a licence somebody else holds. The safe options for a business are production music from a library, music written for you, or a commercial track cleared directly with its owners. This page is general guidance and is not legal advice. If a track matters to the campaign, get a music clearance specialist or a solicitor to read the licence.

The two rights in every track

A song and a recording of that song are separate pieces of copyright. The song belongs to its writers and usually a publisher. The recording belongs to whoever arranged it, which is often a record company. Copyright User, which explains this for creators, puts it plainly: to use a song in a video you need permission from the owner of the song and from the owner of the recording.

Putting music to moving images is called synchronisation, or sync. Sync fees are negotiated with the creators, or with the publisher, the record company or a sync agent acting for them. The two sides can be separate negotiations with separate prices. Either side can say no.

Two consequences catch people out:

• A new recording of an old song is a new copyright. A classical piece may be long out of copyright as a composition, because the UK term for a musical work runs for 70 years after the death of the last author. A recording of it made last year is still protected in its own right. The term for a recording is 50 years from the end of the year it was made, or 70 years from the end of the year of first release if it is released in that period.
• A cover version needs both sides too. Re-recording a song yourself clears the recording, because you own it. The song still needs the writer's side cleared.

What PRS, MCPS and PPL do

PRS for Music and MCPS look after songs on behalf of their members. MCPS represents mechanical rights, which cover copies and reproductions. PPL licenses recorded music to broadcasters, online services, workplaces and venues, and collects royalties for performers and recording rightsholders.

Those society licences are a different thing from sync permission for a specific track in your film. A pub having a PRS licence does not mean you can put the pub's jukebox under your advert.

Production music is the exception worth knowing. The PRS production music FAQ says the MCPS rate card licence covers the musical work, the sound recording and the artist performance, "all of the rights normally required by a production company". You buy the licence through MCPS, but you still contact the libraries directly to find and access their tracks. Services that put a licensed production online also need a PRS licence for the performing right. In practice that is the platform's job, not yours, but it explains why you will see both bodies mentioned.

Four routes to music you can use

1. Production music from a library

Production music is recorded to be licensed for video. One company usually controls every right, which makes clearance quick. You search by mood and length, pay a fee and receive a licence. Typical terms are:

• Which media: web, social, paid social, broadcast, in-store, events.
• Which territory: UK only, Europe, worldwide.
• How long: a year, five years, perpetual.
• Whether you can cut it down, loop it and make versions.

For a small business this is the right answer most of the time. The price depends on the use, so ask for a quote against the actual plan for the film.

2. Music commissioned for you

A composer writes and records something for the film. Put in writing who owns what. The common arrangements are that you own everything outright, or that the composer keeps ownership and you hold a defined licence. Either works if it is signed before the work starts. Agree whether the composer can reuse the piece elsewhere and whether you can use the stems, which are the separate instrument tracks.

3. A commercial track, cleared directly

This is the route for a famous song. It is slow and priced by use, and the answer is sometimes no. Expect to give the owners the film, the media, the territory, the length of use and the budget behind the campaign. Start months before delivery, not days. Where a brief says "something like" a famous track, a production music library or a composer can usually get close for a fraction of the effort.

4. A platform's commercial sound library

Some platforms keep a library of sounds cleared for business accounts. Planoly, a social media scheduling company, says that many trending sounds are licensed for personal accounts but not for brands, and that posts by businesses, or by creators being paid to promote something, count as commercial use. That is one vendor's reading of the platforms' terms. Check the platform's current terms for business accounts before you rely on any sound, and treat a platform's library as cleared for that platform only. If the same film also runs as a paid ad elsewhere or on your website, you need a licence for those uses.

Match the licence to where the film will run

Write down every place the film will appear before you choose music. A worked example for a 45 second brand film shows how the answer changes:

The film that starts as a website piece and later becomes a paid campaign is the classic gap. Buy the wider licence at the start, or make sure the library lets you upgrade.

Keep the music off the set

If a track plays on set for the cast to move to, it ends up in the recorded sound, and then you have a recording of someone else's song in your footage. Do not record with music playing. If you need performers to move to a beat, use headphones or record clean and add the music in the edit. This also keeps the dialogue editable.

The same goes for background music in a shop or café that you film in. Incidental inclusion is a limited exception in copyright law, and it is not a safe way to clear a recognisable track that is audible in a brand film. Ask for the music to be turned off for takes. Our guide to releases for talent, locations and property covers the other permissions to collect on the day.

What to keep on file

For each film, keep one folder with:

1. The licence or contract, with the track name, the library and the licence number.
2. The invoice or proof of payment.
3. A note of the media, territory and end date, and a diary reminder 60 days before it.
4. The cue sheet, if the film goes to broadcast. This is the list of music used and its timings.
5. The name of whoever approved the music.

If a platform mutes the audio or a rights holder makes a claim, that folder is how you answer within the hour.

Common mistakes

• Taking a track from a music streaming service because "we pay for the subscription".
• Assuming a licence for one film covers the cutdowns and the paid version.
• Trusting "royalty-free" to mean "free of conditions". It usually means a one-off payment. The media, territory and period still limit the use.
• Letting an editor drop in a temp track that the client falls in love with. Make the placeholder music a library track from the start.
• Forgetting the end date. A licence for a defined period means the film comes down when the period ends, or the licence is renewed.

If the film is being made for you, say in the brief which platforms it will run on and for how long, so the music is cleared for the real plan. Our page on how to brief a video shoot has a place for it, and filmmakers working on a drama or documentary should read music licensing for filmmakers, which covers festival and broadcast clearance. If you are commissioning a content day, the Content Studio page explains how a day is set up, and the music decision comes before the edit.

Sources

• Copyright User, Licences, read 5 November 2026
• PRS for Music, Production music FAQ, read 5 November 2026
• British Copyright Council, Sound recording, read 5 November 2026
• PRS for Music, MCPS, read 5 November 2026
• PPL, Home page, read 5 November 2026
• UK Copyright Service, UK copyright law, read 5 November 2026
• Planoly, Commercially licensed vs trending sounds: what can brands use?, read 5 November 2026

Related guides

• Ofcom's streaming access code: what 80% subtitles, 10% audio description and 5% signing mean for producers
• The less healthy food ad rules, nine months in: what the rulings mean for your next shoot
• Releases: talent, location, property, minors
• Using AI imagery and voice clones in ads: UK rules
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.