PRS licence applies to copyrighted music, published or performed live. It would be totally impractical to have live music limited to non-copyrighted material - you'd have to do a lot of research to know exactly what is and isn't copyright. It's a bit like owning a TV and saying you only use it for playback and therefore you don't need a TV licence.

It's interesting that Sam's are concerned about PRS licences - probably because PRS uses inspectors to enforce them - because they have never seemed that bothered about having a PEL for live music.

In the case of Farlington, we would even offer to pay the annual licence for the Brewery to be allowed to play every week and contribute to their beer profits - it would be a mere 70p each a week - but they won't even countenance that.

I am now looking forward to playing somewhere we will be welcomed.