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PRS announces record performing rights pay out
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 20 April 2011
PRS For Music yesterday announced it would make a record pay out to the publishers and songwriters it represents this quarter, despite the publishing rights collecting society seeing its overall income slip slightly for the first time last year.
The collective performing right royalties passed onto PRS members this quarter will top £127 million, the largest ever. This is the money taken in for the use of songs on broadcasts, at gigs and in public spaces. Presumably revenues being paid on mechanical rights, ie the cut songwriters and publishers get from record sales, continue to slide; these are paid out separately on a monthly basis.
PRS also says that this set of royalty pay outs is based on the most extensive data analysis ever, meaning how the royalties are split up between rights owners should be more accurate than ever. The collecting society says it analysed 44.9 million plays and performances of music, with more than 640,781 songs being identified as being due a royalty.
PRS boss Robert Ashcroft told CMU: “With the increased challenges we have faced during the past year, PRS For Music has performed well for our members, collecting £611.2m. Whilst revenues collected this year were reduced by £7 million, an increased focus on reducing administration costs and improved efficiency has meant that the [overall] amount paid to our members reduced by only £800,000”.
