Music licence for a hair salon in Ireland: what the IMRO dual licence costs

Music is part of the furniture in an Irish hair salon: it softens the wait, covers the dryers and sets the tone before a word is spoken. Legally, though, the playlist in your salon is not the same thing as the playlist in your kitchen. Playing recorded music where clients can hear it is a public use of copyright works under Irish law, and in the Republic of Ireland that means one licence with one invoice: the Dual Music Licence, sold by IMRO and covering both IMRO and PPI rights.

This guide is published on the blog of ViteUneCoupe, a free booking system for hair salons with 0 % commission, and it treats music licensing the way we treat software pricing: the actual euro figures from the official tariff documents, dated, with the alternatives assessed honestly rather than sold as magic exemptions. Everything below was checked at the source in October 2026.

Why the music in your salon needs a licence

The starting point is the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000: section 37 gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to make a work available to the public, which includes playing it in a place the public can access. Your salon is open to the public, so the music your clients and staff hear, even as quiet background sound, needs the rightsholders' permission.

The source does not matter. A radio by the till, a Bluetooth speaker over the basins, a playlist on a tablet, a television in the waiting area: as soon as the sound is audible in the salon, the rule applies. Nor does it matter that you charge nothing for the music; it accompanies a commercial activity, and that is enough. This is Republic of Ireland law; a salon in Northern Ireland is under the UK system and a different licensing body entirely.

One licence since 2016: the IMRO Dual Music Licence

Two families of rightsholders are paid when recorded music is played in public:

• IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation) collects for songwriters, composers and music publishers;
• PPI (Phonographic Performance Ireland) collects for record producers and performers.

A salon used to need a licence from each. Since 1 January 2016 the two are combined: the IMRO Dual Music Licence covers both sets of rights in a single agreement, administered by IMRO, with one application and one invoice. Nobody should be contacting you separately on behalf of PPI for ordinary background music; if you hold the Dual Music Licence, both rights are dealt with.

Hairdressing has its own dedicated tariffs within the dual licence, listed under the Hair, Beauty and Health section of IMRO's music licences by business page: an IMRO tariff for hair salons and similar small premises, and PPI Tariff 11 for salons. Your invoice is the sum of the two.

What the dual licence costs a hair salon in 2026

Both tariff documents for 2026 are public, and both calculate the fee from floor area, not from your number of chairs. The figures below are taken directly from the IMRO Waiting Rooms (Health, Hair and Beauty) tariff effective 1 January 2026 and PPI Tariff 11 for salons, effective 1 January 2026, checked in October 2026. All amounts are annual and exclude VAT, which is added at the standard rate.

Beyond 100 m², the IMRO component adds €66.84 per additional 25 m² band and the PPI component moves up its own bands (€180.11 for 101 to 150 m², €213.16 for 151 to 200 m²). The two tariffs measure slightly different things: IMRO bills on the area used for client-facing purposes and accessible to the public, PPI on the area where the recordings are audible. For a typical salon they come to the same floor space, but measure before you declare, because every square metre is banded.

So for most independent Irish hair salons, the realistic budget line is roughly €230 to €420 a year plus VAT: a small fixed cost, like insurance, that exists even for a salon with no employees. The IMRO tariff also covers telephone hold music for up to 10 lines at no extra charge. Both tariffs are adjusted in line with the Consumer Price Index from 2027, so treat these figures as the 2026 snapshot and confirm your exact quote with IMRO when you apply.

The surcharges: where salons actually lose money

The 2026 IMRO tariff introduced something Irish salon owners should know about before anyone from IMRO rings the doorbell. Three "efficiency" surcharges are added automatically to the royalty when they apply:

• A compliance surcharge of 60 % if you fail to self-declare and obtain a licence before being approached by an IMRO representative. Waiting to be found costs more than half as much again, every year the surcharge applies to.
• A self-service surcharge of 8 % if you buy by any method other than IMRO's online self-service portal with auto-renewal enabled.
• An extended payment surcharge of 12 % if you pay later than the 30-day prompt payment term without agreeing it with IMRO.

The practical conclusion writes itself: if your salon plays music and is not licensed, go to IMRO yourself, through the online portal, before they come to you, and pay the invoice within 30 days. A 50 m² salon that does everything right pays €244.77 plus VAT; the same salon that waits to be caught and pays late can see the bill grow by most of those percentages combined. This is the cheapest compliance decision you will make all year.

How to get the licence

The process runs through IMRO directly: apply on imro.ie through the self-service portal (the route that avoids the 8 % surcharge), or contact the dual licence team by email or phone, describe your premises and how you use music, and you receive a quote and then an annual invoice. Declare accurately, and tell IMRO when something material changes: an extension, a second room with a speaker, or the day you stop playing music altogether, because the licence renews on the basis of what you declared.

If you are still at the planning stage, put the dual licence on the same list as your insurance, your Revenue registrations and your fit-out: it is one of the small recurring costs that is far easier to set up correctly on day one. Our guide to opening a hair salon in Ireland walks through where it sits among the rest of the paperwork.

Can you play music in the salon without paying?

The question every owner eventually asks deserves a straight answer rather than a slogan. There are two honest routes, and two persistent myths.

The radio myth

"RTÉ has already paid, so I owe nothing" is the most common misconception, and IMRO answers it directly: if you play TV or radio in your business, you are required to hold the Dual Music Licence. The station's own licences cover its broadcast, not the separate public playing that happens when you switch that broadcast on in front of your clients. Radio is the cheapest way to fill a salon with music; it is not a free one.

Your personal Spotify account is not licensed for the salon

The platforms say it themselves. Spotify's official position: "Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use. This means you can't broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons...", checked in October 2026. A Premium subscription changes nothing: it removes adverts, not the restriction. And the point many salon owners miss is that these are two separate problems: a business streaming subscription deals with the platform's terms, while the Dual Music Licence deals with the public performance rights. If you use any business streaming service, ask in writing exactly what its subscription covers and whether the dual licence is still needed alongside it; the answer varies and a marketing page is not a licence.

Royalty-free music: the real alternative, with a caveat

The dual licence covers music in the IMRO and PPI repertoires. Music that sits entirely outside those repertoires, written and recorded specifically to be licensed directly for business use, can legally play in your salon without it. That is a genuine route, and a growing number of background music services are built on it.

The caveat is the word "entirely": the exemption only works if every single track you play is outside the collecting societies' repertoires and cleared for commercial use. Almost all chart and mainstream music is inside them. Before relying on a royalty-free service, get two things in writing from the provider: confirmation that its catalogue requires no IMRO or PPI licence in Ireland, and the terms of its business-use licence. Keep both; if an IMRO representative ever asks, it is for you to show that what plays in your salon owes no royalty. And accept the trade-off: no recognisable songs. For neutral background ambience many salons are happy with that; if your brand is built on a sharp playlist of current hits, the licence is the natural route.

Silence

The only genuinely free option. A few high-end salons make calm part of their positioning, and the rise of silent appointments shows some clients actively want less noise. Most owners decide the dryers need covering.

Make the music worth the licence fee

Having paid for the right to play music, use it deliberately. Keep the volume at a level where a colour consultation does not need raised voices, match the style to your positioning rather than to whoever reached the speaker first, and make the playlist long enough that your team is not hearing the same twenty songs every day. The sound of your salon is part of the same experience as the greeting at the door and the ease of booking: a client who books online in two clicks and walks into a salon that sounds as good as it looks has had a coherent visit from start to finish. The speaker is your job; for the part that brings her back, see how Irish salons build client retention and rebooking.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a licence just to play the radio in my hair salon in Ireland?

Yes. IMRO states that a business playing TV or radio needs the Dual Music Licence: the station's licences cover its broadcast, not the public playing in your premises. For a small salon the 2026 combined tariff starts at €231.35 plus VAT per year (checked in October 2026).

How much is the Dual Music Licence for a small Irish hair salon?

Under the 2026 tariffs, a salon of up to 25 m² pays €231.35 plus VAT per year (IMRO €133.68 plus PPI Tariff 11 €97.67) and a salon of 26 to 50 m² pays €244.77 plus VAT. The fee is based on floor area, both components are CPI-adjusted from 2027, and surcharges can apply, so get your exact quote from IMRO through its self-service portal.

Do I need separate licences from IMRO and PPI?

No. Since 1 January 2016 the Dual Music Licence, administered by IMRO, covers both the IMRO rights (songwriters, composers, publishers) and the PPI rights (record producers, performers) in one agreement with one invoice.

What happens if my salon plays music without a licence?

Playing copyright music in public without permission infringes the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, and the 2026 IMRO tariff adds a 60 % compliance surcharge when a business failed to self-declare before being approached by an IMRO representative. Licensing voluntarily, online, before any visit is always the cheaper path.

Can I play my personal Spotify account in the salon?

No. Spotify's own terms limit the service to personal, non-commercial use and expressly name salons among the businesses where it cannot be played. Business streaming products exist, but check in writing what each covers and whether the Dual Music Licence is still required alongside it.

Is royalty-free music legal in an Irish salon without the dual licence?

Yes, provided every track you play sits outside the IMRO and PPI repertoires and is cleared for business use. Get the provider's written confirmation that no IMRO or PPI licence is needed in Ireland and keep it, and remember the catalogue will not include well-known songs.