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PRS extend deadline on live royalty consultation
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 20 July 2010
PRS For Music has extended the deadline on the consultation part of its review of live music licensing. As previously reported, the songs collecting society is currently reviewing the rates it charges the promoters of live events to cover the copyright royalties due on the songs that are performed.
The live sector fear the review is really part of a plan to increase the rates promoters are charged. PRS will probably point out that as the live sector is now in better health than the recorded music sector it is appropriate the music publishers get a bigger share of their revenues.
But promoters will say that, because PRS get a percentage of revenues under the current system, they are already benefiting from the growth of the live business. But, they will add, if PRS up their royalty fees, just as VAT goes up to 20% next year, that growth could falter, meaning the song owners get less money overall, even if their percentage share is higher.
PRS insist the consultation exercise is a genuine effort to assess the viewpoints of the wider songwriter and live music communities, including big and grass root players, and that no decisions have been made regarding possible changes to the current live royalty system.
Either way, lots of people have been responding to the consultation, it seems, and some have asked for more time than the original twelve week window to get their thoughts in. To that end, PRS announced yesterday that it would now extend the deadline for input to 31 Oct.
PRS’s Debbie Mulloy told CMU: “PRS For Music realises that the original consultation period overlaps with the busy summer season for some of our customers. We’re happy to extend the consultation period by eight weeks to make sure all our customers have the opportunity to let us know their views and ideas”.
