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Live sector prepares to fight any rise in PRS rates
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 6 July 2010
The live community is getting ready to fight back against PRS’s mooted plans to increase the royalties paid by British live music promoters.
As previously reported, collecting society PRS recently announced it would review the royalties paid by the live sector to the publishers and songwriters who songs are performed at gigs and festivals. Part of the review will consider whether there should be a sliding scale of royalty rates depending on the size of the event and the promoter.
But, with the opening blurb for the review noting that live music royalty fees in the UK are lower than in most other European countries – currently PRS gets 3% of ticket revenues – many promoters feel the real aim of the review is to increase the royalty rate, possibly because of the widespread perception the live side of the industry is making all the money at the moment.
But, key players in the live industry argue that, because the PRS royalty is a percentage of revenue rather than a fixed fee, the songwriting community is already benefiting from the recent boom in the live industry. A boom, promoters would probably argue, that was in part made possible by their hard work and risky investments.
The BBC quote Festival Republic chief Melvin Benn, who says: “The quantum leap in what the PRS are being paid by live music promoters is very, very substantial compared to what it was ten years ago. Live music is so much stronger than it was, and therefore the receipts the PRS are getting are substantially more than they were. Instead of being pleased with that and wanting to work with us, they want to punish us and just take more. The reality is that will only result in additional costs to the ticket-buyer and that’s killing the goose that laid the golden egg”.
Benn adds that any increase in 2011 would be extra damaging, because the live sector will already have to contend with a 2.5% increase in VAT, which will increase ticket prices across the board. An additional increase in PRS fees could push ticket prices over a threshold where some music fans would be no longer willing to pay.
Approached by the Beeb, the PRS insisted it is too soon to say what their review of live royalties will conclude. The society’s Debbie Mulloy explained: “It’s been over 20 years since we last reviewed this tariff and it’s part of a general review of all our tariffs. This is one sector where there have been massive amounts of change and we felt a good review was required to make sure everything was still fair and reasonable. The rate will not necessarily increase. There’s no foregone conclusion here. It’s not as simple as saying we want the rate to be higher. There are a number of things we have to assess”.
