Written submission from PRS for Music (LMI0021)

About PRS for Music

PRS for Music is a world-leading music Collective Management Organisation (CMO) representing the rights of more than 190,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers. Redefining the global standard for music royalties, PRS for Music ensures songwriters and composers are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed live and played in public. In 2024, PRS for Music paid out £1.02 billion in royalties and collected a record £1.15 billion in revenues.

PRS for Music does not make a profit on the royalties it collects – once costs are deducted, all royalties flow directly through to the music creators and rightsholders we represent. Last year, we announced a cost-to-income ratio of just 9.9%.  

Response

PRS for Music welcomes the opportunity to share evidence with the Business and Trade Committee on the structure and dynamics of the UK live music industry, including how collective licensing of live performance supports songwriters’ livelihoods.

The role of songwriters in the live music ecosystem

The live music ecosystem is made up of interdependent constituent parts, none of which can thrive in isolation, from songwriters, artists and managers to promoters, venues and festival organisers. Without music creators, there would be no songs to perform on stage; and without live events, many songwriters would lose a vital platform for their work to be performed, often by others, and reach new audiences. Co-writing is particularly prevalent in pop music, with 4-5 writers per song being commonplace, with some tracks featuring 10+ collaborations. Live royalties are a valuable source of income for music creators; in 2024, PRS for Music paid out £68.5m in royalties from live performances to more than 39,000 members.

A healthy and competitive live music market is essential to the long-term success of the live music industry – one that improves the quality and diversity of live shows, supports fair treatment of music creators and artists and ensures fair access and value for fans.

PRS for Music’s licensing activity

PRS has a statutory duty to the songwriters and composers it represents to license the use of their works in live performances. In 2024, over 35,247 pubs, clubs and music venues were licensed by PPL PRS Ltd - a joint venture between PRS and PPL, the CMO which administers sound recording rights for performers and record labels, to streamline public performance licensing. Obtaining TheMusicLicence provides customers such as pubs, music venues and festivals with legal access to commercially available music from across the globe, represented by PRS via reciprocal agreements with foreign societies.

Collective rights management is the most efficient and effective way of licensing live performance at scale, pooling millions of rights into a single licence. This approach provides a practical, streamlined solution for customers while ensuring that individual rightsholders are represented and remunerated. Licensing each work individually would be unworkable in practice. For example, in a single week a music venue may have multiple acts performing each night, each playing a mix of original works and covers, involving dozens of songwriters. Collective management makes it possible to track, license and pay for this activity in a way that is transparent, efficient, fair and regulated.

As a CMO, PRS is owned and controlled by its members, and regulated by The Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive) Regulations 2016. As such, PRS is legally obliged to act in the best interest of its members and to adhere to high standards of governance, transparency, and accountability.

While PRS is the primary society in the UK, music creators may choose to join any CMO around the world. Indeed, many PRS members are located abroad but choose to assign their rights to PRS. This freedom of choice ensures healthy competition between CMOs, promoting better service for members. Songwriters will typically join a collecting society as soon as their music is released and it begins to generate royalties.

Market complexity and competition harms

The UK government has rightly recognised the risks consumers face from unfair ticketing practices. We welcome its decision to ban ticket resale above face value, as well as the CMA’s investigation into Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets.

Dominant parties in the live music industry control large parts of supply chain– through talent booking to promotion, ticketing and venue management – magnifying the impact of any unfair behaviour.

In recent years we have observed an increase in complex pricing structures, such as bundle deals and VIP packages. Songwriters are directly impacted by pricing practices, as royalites are calculated as a percentage of ticket revenues for live events under Tariff Live Popular (LP), which ensures music creators share proportionately in the value created from the use of their works. The rate of Tariff LP is 4% of box office takings per event, or 4.2% where a licensee has opted not to declare additional fees.

Promoters and venues must report all ticket types fully and accurately under the reporting standards set out in the tariff. We have taken legal action against the largest promoter in the UK for repeatedly failing to report the full price paid by consumers for VIP tickets and other ticket bundles, depressing songwriter income. Disregard of these core requirements by a company of their size is entirely unacceptable. This promoter also chairs the industry trade body and speaks for all promoters in negotiations carried out on its behalf, including those concerning the payment of songwriter royalties on VIP packages and ticket bundles, which further consolidates their market influence on this issue.

PRS for Music stands firm in its mission to protect its members’ rights and create a level playing field for all event promoters and venues that honour their licensing obligations. We urge the whole live music sector to embrace the need for greater transparency, ensuring that music creators and the live industry can thrive together.