PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music
copyright collective
Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective (also known as a copyright society, copyright collecting agency, licensing agency or copyright collecting society or collective management organiz ...
, made up of two collection societies: the
Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes
collective rights management
Collective rights management is the licensing of copyright and related rights by organisations acting on behalf of rights owners. Collective management organisations (CMOs), sometimes also referred to as collecting societies, typically represent ...
for
musical works on behalf of its 160,000 members. PRS for Music was formed in 1997 following the MCPS-PRS Alliance. In 2009, PRS and MCPS-PRS Alliance realigned their brands and became PRS for Music.
PRS represents their songwriter, composer and music publisher members’ performing rights, and collects royalties on their behalf whenever their music is played or performed publicly.
MCPS also represents songwriters, composers and music publishers – representing their mechanical rights, and collects royalties whenever their music is reproduced as a physical product – this includes CDs, DVDs, digital downloads and broadcast or online.
PRS (Performing Right Society) and
MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) are two separate collection societies with PRS running its own operations, providing services to MCPS under the name PRS for Music. As of 2018 PRS has entered a joint venture with
Phonographic Performance Limited
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective ...
(PPL) under a newly formed private company called
PPL PRS Ltd with the aim of making it easier for their customers to obtain a music licence.
History
The Performing Right Society was founded in 1914 by a group of music publishers, to protect the value of copyright and to help provide an income for composers, songwriters and music publishers. At the time, PRS collected fees for live performance from
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...
.
PRS was distinct from both the activities of the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society which was founded in 1910, and the
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), founded in 1934 by
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
and
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
.
The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society began as Mecolico, the Mechanical Copyright Licenses Company, which was founded in 1910 in anticipation of the
Copyright Act of 1911. Mecolico licensed the mechanical rights within musical works and merged with the Copyright Protection Society in 1924. Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) collected fees for playing gramophone recordings.
Another agency, the British Copyright Protection Company or Britico was founded in 1932 by Alphonse Tournier, specialising on collecting royalties in the UK on French and German musical copyright, and becoming the British Copyright Protection Association in 1962. This company, Britico, started to share computer facilities with PRS in 1970.
Tariffs
PRS for Music administers the performance rights and mechanical rights of about 25 million musical works on behalf of its songwriters, composers and publishing members and in 2018 processed over 11.1 trillion uses of music. PRS for Music licenses and collects royalties for its members' musical works whenever they are publicly performed, or recordings of them are broadcast, streamed online or played in public spaces, both in the UK and globally through its partner network.
After
operating cost
Operating costs or operational costs, are the expenses which are related to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of resources used by an organization just to main ...
s are deducted, the remaining money is distributed to PRS for Music's songwriter, composer and publisher members and to affiliate societies.
The principal sources of PRS for Music revenue collection come from; broadcast channels (i.e. radio and television), public performance (i.e. music at gigs, concerts, theatres, restaurants, retailers and workplaces), online (i.e. music streamed online, digitally downloaded) and international.
PRS for Music also has a number of
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s for organisations in different sectors (businesses, government organisations, educational establishments, and so on). Dependent on their size and the extent to which each premises uses music, whether they are commercial premises or not, as well as other criteria, PRS for Music's tariffs vary.
Around 350,000 UK businesses have paid and are licensed to play music under a PRS for Music licence, however some workplaces do not need one:
* Inpatient and treatment areas in hospitals
* Medical day centres
* Residential homes (in most circumstances)
* Music used in divine worship (although licences are required for copyrighted music)
* Civil wedding ceremonies and partnership ceremonies
* Lone and home workers.
In 2018, PPL and PRS for Music formed a jointly owned subsidiary, PPL PRS Ltd, to collect all licence fees for public performances. PPL PRS Ltd is based in Leicester, England.
Initiatives
ICE - Global Licensing Hub
In July 2015, PRS for Music, Sweden collecting society
STIM
STIM, ''Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå'' (Swedish Performing Rights Society), is a Swedish collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publisher
A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distribu ...
and German collecting society
GEMA announced the completion of a joint venture to launch an integrated multi-territory music licensing and processing hub covering European territories. In November 2015, it was confirmed the new hub would be called ‘ICE’.
PRS for Music and PPL joint venture for public performance licensing
In February 2016, PRS for Music and PPL, the body who licenses the sound recording of a song, confirmed plans to create a new joint venture for public performance licensing. The new joint venture would focus on servicing all UK public performance licensing customers. The joint venture launched in 2018.
Streamfair
In July 2015, PRS for Music launched a pro-creator campaign called Streamfair. The campaign focused on four areas, Copyright Legislation, Online Licensing, Promoting the value of music creators and education. The campaign was supported by acclaimed songwriters and composers including
Jimmy Napes
James Napier (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Jimmy Napes, is an English songwriter and record producer. He has won a number of awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, 3 Grammy Awards, and 2 Ivor Novello Awar ...
,
Michael Price, Crispin Hunt,
Gary Clark and
Debbie Wiseman
Debbie Wiseman, OBE (born 10 May 1963) is a British composer for film and television, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter.
Biography
Wiseman was born in London. She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Depar ...
.
Heritage Awards
The PRS for Music
Heritage Award
The PRS for Music Heritage Award is a ceremonial plaque installed in a public place to commemorate a link between a famous musician or music band and the location they performed their first live gig. The UK-wide plaque is awarded and funded by ...
scheme launched in 2009 with the first award going to
Blur. Ceremonial plaques are unveiled to honour the performance birthplaces of legendary bands, artists and songwriters - as well as recognising the network of pubs, clubs and live music venues. Those honoured include
Squeeze,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
,
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
* ...
,
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
and
UB40
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...
.
Financial information
In May 2016, PRS for Music announced its 2015 financial results, which showed an 8.4% increase in distributions to its songwriter members. The figures for 2016 were announced in May 2017 showing that revenues increased by 10.1% and royalty payments to its members increased to £527.6m (up 11.1%). The organisation reported record royalty distributions in 2017, with a payout of £605.1m (up 14.7%)
Licensing
Legal cases
In 2007, PRS for Music took a Scottish car servicing company to court because the employees were allegedly "listening to the radio at work, allowing the music to be 'heard by colleagues and customers'. In June 2008, PRS for Music accused eleven police stations of failure to obtain permits to play music, and sought an injunction and payments for damages.
In 2014, PRS for Music and commercial broadcaster ITV failed to negotiate a licensing deal resulting in a Copyright Tribunal dispute. In July 2016, The Copyright Tribunal awarded in favour of PRS for Music. ITV appealed and subsequently lost a High Court appeal in early 2017.
In 2015, PRS for Music entered into a licensing agreement with the
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
-based company
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
after several months of litigation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cross-border European licensing
The Santiago Agreement was established in 2000 between five European
collecting societies
Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective (also known as a copyright society, copyright collecting agency, licensing agency or copyright collecting society or collective management organiz ...
including the UK's PRS for Music and France's
SACEM and Germany's
GEMA. The agreement allows each collecting society to collect royalties on behalf of members of the other collecting society, e.g. PRS for Music would collect money for German artists listed with GEMA, but to restrict licences to be sold only within the member organisation's home country.
The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
decided in 2008 that the cross-licensing agreements formed by 24 collecting societies in Europe were in violation of anti-competition laws.
Schools
Along with
Phonographic Performance Limited
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective ...
(PPL), PRS for Music use the Centre for Education and Finance Management (CEFM) as agents to collect licensing money from schools and colleges. Universities have separate arrangements.
Enforcement
In 2008, PRS for Music began a concerted drive to make commercial premises pay for annual "performance" licences. In one case it told a 61-year-old mechanic that he would have to pay £150 to play his radio while he worked by himself.
It also targeted a bakery that played a radio in a private room at the back of the shop,
a woman who used a classical radio to calm her horses and community centres that allowed children to sing carols in public. However, questions have been raised about the tactic of targeting small businesses:
Radio stations pay large amounts of money to licensing organizations PRS for Music and PPL for the music they play, and music has been on the radio for many years. During the war, there were programmes like Music While You Work. Now, many radio stations have features about workplaces. If the PRS forces people to switch their radios off then how are these stations going to survive? Music has to be heard before people go out and buy it.
:—''The Bolton News
''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and online every day, it is par ...
''
In March 2009, the on line video-sharing site
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
removed all premium
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s for UK users, even those supplied by
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
s, due to a failure to find "mutually acceptable terms for a new licence" with PRS for Music. As a consequence, PRS for Music established the Fair Play for Creators campaign in order to provide a forum where musicians could "publicly demonstrate their concern over the way their work is treated by online businesses".
David Arnold
David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series '' Little Britain'' ...
,
Jazzie B
Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE, (born 26 January 1963) better known as Jazzie B, is a British DJ and music producer. He is the founder of Soul II Soul.
Life and career
Jazzie was born in London UK to parents of Antiguan descent in Hornsey, Londo ...
,
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...
,
Guy Chambers
Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams.
Education
Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, h ...
,
Robin Gibb
Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...
,
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterm ...
,
Mike Chapman
Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi ...
,
Wayne Hector
Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including "World of O ...
, Pam Sheyne and
Debbie Wiseman
Debbie Wiseman, OBE (born 10 May 1963) is a British composer for film and television, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter.
Biography
Wiseman was born in London. She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Depar ...
sent a letter to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' newspaper in support of the campaign launched by PRS for Music. A rights deal was settled in September 2009 between PRS for Music and
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
that allowed YouTube users in UK to view music videos.
Wiltshire Constabulary
Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England.
The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...
refused to pay PRS for Music for a £32,000 licence fee in April 2009. Instead the force told all officer and civilian staff that music could no longer be played in their workplaces but that ban excluded patrol cars. A total of 38 of 49 UK police forces currently hold PRS for Music licences.
In May 2009, the British Chambers of Commerce published a survey of business attitudes to PRS for Music. Just 6% of companies rated their experience as good or excellent. In contrast, over half said their experience had been poor or very poor. Businesses were also asked to submit comments about their experiences. Many of these replies referred to the PRS for Music's behaviour as "aggressive" and "threatening".
In October 2009, PRS for Music apologised to a 56-year-old shelf-stacker at a village in
Clackmannanshire
Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the hi ...
for pursuing her for singing to herself while stacking shelves. PRS for Music initially told her that she would be prosecuted and fined thousands of pounds if she continued to sing without a "live performance" licence. However PRS for Music subsequently acknowledged its mistake.
In October 2010, it was reported that Sussex Police, in a money-saving move, were not intending to renew their PRS for Music licence, meaning that police officers would no longer be able to listen to the radio in their squad cars or other work places.
Independent Welsh agency
In 2012, a high per centage of Welsh-language musicians left PRS for Music to form a separate agency, ''Eos'' (Welsh for nightingale), after changes in the way PRS for Music calculates royalties led to a fifteen-fold decrease in payments. In 2007, PRS for Music had reclassified Welsh-language station BBC Radio Cymru as a local station, where previously it had been considered a national station. This led to a decrease in royalty rates from £7.50 per minute to 50p per minute of broadcast music. The English-language sister station, BBC Radio Wales, is classified by PRS for Music as a national station and attracts the higher rates.
As of December 2012, Eos is in negotiations with the BBC, whose Welsh-language service is highly dependent on its members' output. From 1 January 2013, a PRS licence will not be required to play such music, and will not give any permission to do so.
References
External links
PRS for Music website
Intellectual Property Office
{{Authority control
Cultural organisations based in London
Entertainment companies established in 1914
Music organisations based in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in the City of Westminster
Music licensing organizations