UK songwriters “missing millions in royalties” from gigs
Image credit: Austin Edwards
A new report shows that artists may be losing out from performance royalties at over 100,000 concerts in the UK thanks to PRS for Music.
When an artist plays a concert, royalties are generated for songwriters for the performance of their work. Whether that’s the artist’s playing original songs or any covers they are performing, meaning the original artist is owed a portion of royalties.
These royalties are covered by collection agency PRS for Music in the UK, representing more than 180,00 members. The agency takes a small percentage of gross ticket sales to redistribute the royalties to songwriters, after taking a cut. A new report reveals that songwriters may be missing out on millions of pounds a year in performance royalties from PRS for Music.
The problem is, that PRS for Music takes their cut at a huge number of performances – including classical performances and theatre shows as well as music gigs. However, the agency hasn’t been allocating performance royalties to songwriters at a “ballooning number of gigs” due to a lack of information about the songs played.
The agency must know the setlist or the identity of any music used in a performance to allocate the royalties correctly. If that information isn’t available, then PRS for Music can’t correctly allocate those royalties and this seems to be a growing issue.
The agency are facing legal action over the methods with which they distribute the revenues earned at live performances. Jesus and Mary Chain and Robert Fripp of King Crimson are amont the songwriters currently suing PRS for Music.
The PRS website actually lists the performances at which they have collected but not distributed money. The list shows 106,000 performances which have generated what is being called the “black box” fun of unallocated revenue.
PRS for Music doesn’t state how much income is in their “black box”, but the Guardian says that a document showed that the figure for 2019 amounted to £2.7 million. After 3 years, the money in the fund is redistributed via a formula – meaning it doesn’t necessarily reach the actual songwriters whose work was performed at those gigs.
PRS state: “PRS dedicated significant resources to match live performances to works and ensure songwriters and composers receive the royalties they are due. We have a team whose primary job is to manually research setlist details.
“In addition, we provide and widely promote our online tool, designed to make it easy for members or their representatives to report setlists for any performances of their works. We also send staff to fesitvals and events to collect setlist [sic] in person.”
In 2024, artists in the UK saw record-breaking figures of more than £1 billion paid out in performance royalties. PRS for Music CEO Andrea Czapary Martin wrote at the time that their members have the right to demand that their industry “constantly evolve to meet their changing needs and expectations”.
