If your business plays recorded music in public — a restaurant, hotel, gym, café or mall — you almost certainly need a copyright licence to do it lawfully. Music is protected, and public performance without permission is infringement.
Why a licence is required
Playing music to the public engages copyright in the underlying works and the sound recording. Commercial venues must therefore obtain public performance licences from the rights holders or their authorised agents. The Copyright Act, 1957 created Copyright Societies to streamline this licensing and monitor unauthorised use.
Who licenses popular music
In practice, PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) and Novex Communications are the primary authorised agents for licensing popular music in India — though, importantly, neither is currently registered as a Copyright Society. That raised a live legal question: can an agent issue licences at all?
The Leopold Café ruling
The Bombay High Court answered it in Leopold Café & Stores v. Novex Communications (2014), drawing a careful distinction between “granting” and “issuing” a licence:
- Section 33 restricts the business of granting licences to registered copyright societies.
- But an agent can still issue licences on behalf of the owner under Section 30 — acting as the owner’s authorised representative.
On that basis, agents like Novex can validly issue public performance licences, and courts have supported their authority to enforce licensing and seek injunctions against unlicensed use.
The grey area
The line around “commercial establishment” is not perfectly crisp — for example, whether a corporate office playing background music needs a licence is less settled. But the precedent leans toward caution: where music is performed in a commercial setting, obtaining a licence is the prudent course.
Practical guidance
- Audit where you play music — reception areas, dining floors, gym studios, events.
- Take the right licences from the authorised agents/societies covering that repertoire.
- Keep the paperwork — it is your defence to an infringement or injunction claim.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence to play music in my restaurant or gym? Yes. Public performance of protected music in a commercial venue requires a copyright licence from the rights holders or their authorised agents.
Can PPL or Novex issue licences if they are not copyright societies? Yes. Leopold Café held that while only registered societies may carry on the business of granting licences (Section 33), an agent may issue licences on the owner’s behalf under Section 30.
What happens if I play music without a licence? It can amount to copyright infringement, exposing you to injunctions and damages.
Does a corporate office need a licence for background music? The position is less settled, but given the case law, taking a licence is the prudent course wherever music is performed commercially.
Useful official resources
- The Copyright Act, 1957
- Copyright Office, India