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.

Is it better then to have a situation where it impossible to make any music at all because of the current system of blanket licensing? I will settle for an impractial attempt at a solution rather than meekly accepting the playing of non-copyright material being made impossible.

I suggest that we need to work toward a better and fairer system? One that does recognise the practical difficulties presented (in particular to traditional and original music) and one that does not actually threaten live music?