Some of us at FTTS are PRS writer members but when we joined we had no idea what PRS do exactly. So we spoke to Barney Hooper head of PR at PRS for Music to find out.
What does the PRS do? PRS or PRS For Music as it is now licences music on behalf of its members. We ensure that any time it is played, performed or reproduced whether live or on record, PRS collects money for its members. So that includes live performances, radio stations, TV, online, DVD, CDs, other products. Its members are songwriters composers and music publishers.
Not when I buy a CD and play it at home? No – only outside the domestic environment – so any business using music has to pay royalties (click 'read more' to see full article).
How did it start?
It developed as copyright law and intellectual property law developed. It came about around 1910 after the MCPS (its sister society which collects money on physical products such as CDs) started. PRS itself started in 1914 and was set up by group of music publishers concerned about getting money for the commercial use of their music. There was a copyright law around that time which permitted any creator the right to earn money whenever that music was used.
Traditionally you had to seek permission from the rights holder to play a piece of music. If you’re a radio station and you’re playing hundreds and thousands of pieces of music from all around the world it would be a nightmare to license it all individually so the publishers set up the PRS to handle the licensing on their behalf .
We have all the relevant information and act as an entity in the middle to sort out all the song identification and make sure that the correct writers get paid. Writers don’t get paid to write a song, you only get paid when it is used. So if you don’t get paid you will probably give up writing music which is not good for anyone.
Who pays PRS then?
We are not a charity but a non profit organisation. Obviously there are costs involved in licensing – we have staff, an office, a large database etc. So the money we collect in we have tot take our costs out of. Our job is to keep our costs low so that every other penny that we get in gets paid out to you and the writers we represent.
The good thing is that we are owned by our members – the writers and publishers – so we are a members’ society. So they elect members onto our Board, we are answerable to our Board and they make sure that what we are charging (rates etc) is right and that we are run efficiently and effectively in the interests of the members so that as much money as humanly possible goes back to them.
You mentioned there the publisher members and writer members. What’s the difference and do they have the same agenda?
The difference is that normally publishers traditionally join MCPS which licences physical audio product, but MCPS has now joined together with PRS to create PRS for Music which combines everything together. Obviously most writers have a publisher who tries to exploit their works – to get them onto tv and radio and get them performed and recorded. Royalties that come in will be split with their publisher. Some writers don’t have a publisher, they self-publish but there are loads of different models. Generally a writer will be signed to one record label which will put their records out and to a different publisher who will exploit their songs and get them “out there” so that they can earn money in a different way – television, advertising etc - to add value for writers.
So a proportion of the performance fee will go to the publisher and a proportion will go to the writer?
Correct. So normally, being very simplistic. Say a pound is coming in, roughly 50p will go to the writer and 50p to the publisher, but the writer will also get a share of the 50p that’s gone to the publisher. The direct payment we pay to you goes straight into your bank account without anyone else taking any share.
The great thing is that we are improving how we work - our licensing harder and smarter, we’ve massively increased the royalties we are bringing in. We have 96 agreements with similar organisations all around the world. British music is so popular that we need to make sure that if it is abroad in Turkey or wherever, then the money comes back. Likewise we collect money for overseas writers who have their works played in the UK.
I imagine in some countries it’s not that straightforward to ascertain how much is due and to actually get paid.
Yes. Credit to the guys in our international team, they have worked very hard at going into new countries. Obviously some organisations in some territories are bigger than others, but we’ve seen big growth in Europe, in places like South Africa, Japan and central Asia. Our guys have worked with governments and organisations in those countries, talking to them about i) strengthening their copyright laws, ii) establishing similar organisations to the PRS in their country – can we do it for you or can we directly licence your radio stations and television? We see a lot of potential in those kinds of countries so it is definitely worth exploring.
How many members are there?
We’re now up to 70,000.
Do you think that’s every songwriter in the UK?
That’s difficult to say. When I joined, about two years ago, they estimated that there were potential members of around 120,000 writers, but it changes. A lot of people will dabble and put their songs on Myspace as a hobby. It’s so much easier now with the cost of recording equipment and the availability of the internet, so the community has definitely grown. What has been great for us is that we have reduced our membership fee. It was £100 and now it’s free except that we will deduct £10 from your first royalty payment as an admin fee to cover the costs. So until you start earning you won’t have to pay the nominal fee. That has helped increase our membership, as has our close relationship with Myspace on our membership. But the growth in membership hasn’t effected the average earnings of our members – so our new members are earning as well.
That’s a very important point to make – that now it’s free – as I certainly remember having to pay it out of our first record deal advance.
Funnily enough we had a lot of young songwriters in today. You’re 16, you’ve just started out and have put your first songs up on Myspace – you don’t necessarily know that you need to join PRS or PPL. The music industry for those on the outside seems quite complex and it is confusing. They don’t necessarily know that they can earn money when their music is played on their local radio station. They love to hear it, but if that radio station operates on the back of their creativity they should get paid too! It is a constant education. Well hopefully we can help with that!
Moving on from there, how is the money allocated? I know that if I was on tour I filled in many PRS forms for gigs over many years. I know that it’s a percentage of box office receipts, but what people want to know most is “does Bono get more than me?”.
The answer to that is no – everyone gets the same. If your song is played on Radio 1 or Radio 2 you will get the same as everyone else on Radio 1 or Radio 2. It is calculated on a per minute basis for all radio and tv stations. Now if your song is played on Radio 1 you’re obviously going to get paid a hell of a lot more than if your song is played on local radio. The same applies to TV if it’s prime time you will get more than if it is played on a small digital channel. We also take into account what is the reach/listenership, what ad revenues are they getting etc.
Similarly if it’s live music, it’s done as a percentage of the face value of a ticket. So if the ticket price is £50 our royalty would be 3% of that, ie £1.50, and that would be per ticket. That then gets split up according to who is appearing on the bill etc, but roughly 3% of the ticket price comes to us and we divide it up accordingly. The headline act will earn a little bit more than the supports and there are formulae which work that out.
Classical writers get a little bit more – about 4.2% of the face value of the ticket. These rates are different for historical reasons.
For international monies, similar rules apply.
What else does the PRS do? I have heard of the PRS Foundation
Besides collecting money on behalf of its members the PRS also encourages and sponsors new music through the PRS Foundation which has given £13.5 million to over 4000 projects since 2000.
The PRS can also give free legal and accounting advice for members.
In a nutshell as a songwriter why should I join PRS for Music?
You have nothing to lose and the assurance that every time your music is used you will be paid!
Some of us at FTTS are PRS writer members but when we joined we had no idea what PRS do exactly. So we spoke to Barney Hooper head of PR at PRS for Music to find out. 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
