PRS For Music has launched a revamped Major Live Concert Service under the new brand MLCS™ by PRS.
MLCS™ builds on the society’s long-standing service, a high-end proposition for arena and stadium level acts designed to address their specific royalty administration requirements.
In addition to new technological solutions and streamlined processes, the service will also feature fixed payment terms and further reduced administration fees in response to feedback from a survey of key artist representatives.
“We acknowledge representing the world’s top talent comes with expectations, and we need to be in a position to offer a service that meets those requirements to be given the privilege of continuing to collect their concert royalties," said Sami Valkonen, PRS' director of international. "We’ve taken on board feedback from several of our key member representatives and are committed to making MLCS™ a proposition that further solidifies PRS as the go-to provider of major concert tour copyright management.
“We are already working with the society network to implement these critical changes that are necessary to not only to keep MLCS™ competitive in the new marketplace, but, frankly, to keep the entire society network relevant in this area."
As part of the relaunch, PRS For Music has been working to curtail and harmonise administration rates across territories and has successfully implemented special terms for the MLCS™ programme, including local rates as low as 8.5 percent in some key territories.
The PRO is also working on eradicating "promoter kickbacks" still occurring in some territories, and provides full transparency to artists on all aspects of the royalty collection and distribution process as part of the MLCS™ programme.
PRS added that the programme demystifies tax, offers a pre-tour royalty calculation service, clear and upfront details of headliner and support splits in each country allowing for accurate forecasts of royalty streams throughout the tour, and provides a post-tour royalty reconciliation feature.
