Songwriters and composers are set to receive an additional £6 million in royalties from online services, each year, as part of distributions by PRS For Music.
Marking her fifth year as CEO, Andrea Czapary Martin, announced a reduction in the administration rate from 10% to 8% applied to multi-territory online (MTOL) royalties’ collection.
The admin rate reduction is a result of the collective management organisation surpassing its targets, delivering historic distributions and revenues, and becoming a billion-pound society, as reported by Music Week last month .
Announced at its 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM), PRS estimates the reduction will see £1.5 million more paid out to members in each of its quarterly royalty distributions from October this year, totalling £47 million more by 2030.
In addition, the society will begin a comprehensive review of its administration rates across all revenue streams, with a view to reducing and simplifying them.
PRS for Music, CEO, Andrea Czapary Martin, said: “We have achieved so much over the last year with radical and technological developments, that last year we paid out a record-breaking £943.6 million in royalties, an increase of nearly 13% on the previous year. We also broke the billion-pound revenue threshold. I believe that the success of the society should be defined by the success we pass on to songwriters and composers. I am delighted to announce that the reduction in multi-territory online licensing admin fees, is a real tangible example of how we are constantly working on behalf of members to be competitive, and to get more money to them, more quickly.”
This is a real tangible example of how we are constantly working on behalf of members to be competitive, and to get more money to them, more quickly
Andrea Czapary Martin
PRS also announced the appointment of four newly elected members to the Council: Publisher Council Members’ Phil Rose (Sentric Music) and Laura Young (S2K Music), and Writer Council Members’ Mike Stobbie and Pete Woodroffe, the latter being appointed for a second term.
Stevie Spring was officially appointed to the Members’ Council. She succeeds Stephen Davidson as chair of the PRS For Music Board, who has held the role since 2014 and is standing down after serving his full tenure.
Erica Ingham was reappointed as an Independent non-executive (iNED) Council Member. Simon Platz stepped down as a Publisher Council Member after serving on the Members’ Council since 2008, some of which he also served as deputy chair.
This year’s AGM also saw the ratification of several resolutions designed to promote fairness, representation and improvements to how the society is run, including: expansion of the Members’ Council to 10 writers and 10 publisher representatives to ensure more ideas, expertise and lived experiences are represented; a new “Voting Plus” category to encourage more writer members to engage with the democratic process; and an enhanced Annual Transparency Report.
Julian Nott, chair of the PRS Members’ Council, said: “A vital component of PRS’s achievements is the role the Members’ Council serves in representing the concerns and needs of songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Congratulations to newly elected directors Phil Rose, Laura Young and Mike Stobbie, and Pete Woodroffe on his reappointment, whose combined knowledge and expertise will be an asset in the next chapter of the society.”
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