\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tLONDON, England \u2014 The U.K.\u2019s main musician and songwriter trade associations have responded to calls for PRS to reduce its blanket license fees for grassroots music venues.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Tuesday (April 14), the Music Venue Trust launched a campaign titled Set The Record Straight: Fair Licensing Fees, aimed at examining how PRS For Music\u2019s licensing charges are calculated, applied and enforced across the U.K.\u2019s grassroots live music circuit.<\/p>\n
\n
\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Sia\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/P103S9VO-e1775667174515.jpg?w=237&h=147&crop=1\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\t\t\t\t\tSia Comments on $42K-Per Month Child Support Settlement With Estranged Husband: ‘To Err Is Human, To Forgive Is Divine’\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
- \n
- \nGil Kaufman<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
- <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tThe MVT reported that a number of venues were struggling under the weight of PRS For Music\u2019 licenses, claiming that current practices are producing inaccurate billing outcomes for independent venues across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tU.K. venues are covered by a blanket license which allows for the performance of songs written by PRS members. Where performance data is unavailable, estimates are provided. Responding to the campaign, the collection society explained: \u201cPRS licenses venues for the use of music and relies on the data they provide, including capacity and event information. Estimations are only used when the relevant data has not been provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Wednesday (April 15) the Council of Music Makers \u2014 which represents the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), The Ivors Academy, the Music Managers Forum (MMF), the Music Producers Guild (MPG) and the Musicians\u2019 Union (MU) \u2014 responded to the campaign.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn its statement, the CMM said that it \u201crejects any proposals for a reduction in licensing fees or collections for the use of music,\u201d and that \u201csuch moves would simply have a negative impact on the income of songwriters and composers and make their careers less viable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt added that, \u201cCMM believes that collective licensing plays a crucial role as part of the licensing of live performances. Members of the CMM have long worked with collective management organisations like PRS to challenge and improve practices, and to ensure they work in favour of the music-makers, without whom there would be no music to perform in a live setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe CMM also called on PRS to \u201censure its licences are fair and transparent for both music-makers and users of music, not least grassroots venues,\u201d and said the collection society must \u201cemploy new technology to overcome inaccuracies and inefficiencies with songwriter payments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tPRS alluded to the challenges and said that \u201cwe are continuously investing in and improving the collection of live data to accelerate accurate payment of royalties, including improving setlist collection tools and exploring AI tools to find fan generated setlists to supplement missing data.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRead the Council of Music Makers full statement below.<\/p>\n
The Council Of Music Makers has today (15 April) issued a statement calling on all parts of the UK\u2019s live sector to recognise and uphold the value of songs and songwriters.<\/em><\/p>\n
Underlining the irrefutable importance that the work of songwriters plays in underpinning the live sector, the CMM rejects any proposals for a reduction in licensing fees or collections for the use of music. Such moves would simply have a negative impact on the income of songwriters and composers and make their careers less viable.<\/em><\/p>\n
CMM believes that collective licensing plays a crucial role as part of the licensing of live performances. Members of the CMM have long worked with collective management organisations like PRS to challenge and improve practices, and to ensure they work in favour of the music-makers, without whom there would be no music to perform in a live setting.<\/em><\/p>\n
The majority of songs performed in UK venues and festivals are written by PRS members or members of other collecting societies around the world, making a blanket licence administered by PRS essential to both music-makers and their business partners in live music.<\/em><\/p>\n
The blanket licence approach accommodates covers, co-writers, overseas writers and publishers, and PRS income is vital for many grassroots artists and songwriters, especially those artists playing support slots and festivals, helping music-makers as they seek to overcome the widely documented challenges around the economics of touring.<\/em><\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the flexibility already exists for artists who are exclusively performing their own songs at their own gigs to opt-out of the blanket licence and handle the licensing of their performing rights themselves, if and when the artist believes that to be the best approach.<\/em><\/p>\n
There remain a number of areas where further improvements with collective management are needed, to achieve better accuracy, distribution and transparency. CMM members will continue to work with PRS in the interests of our members to ensure that those changes are made in a manner that does not create unintended consequences which would undermine creators\u2019 ability to make a living in an already tough industry,<\/em><\/p>\n
PRS must ensure its licences are fair and transparent for both music-makers and users of music, not least grassroots venues. PRS should also employ new technology to overcome inaccuracies and inefficiencies with songwriter payments. And where there is unavoidable unallocated income, it should be used to support grassroots music-makers, for example through the PRS Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n
However, while making these changes, we must always ensure that we respect and protect the value of the songs and compositions on which the entire music industry is built, and without which it cannot exist.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/uk-unions-respond-prs-license-fees-venues\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/PRS-for-music-logo-2017-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard LONDON, England \u2014 The U.K.\u2019s main musician and songwriter trade associations have responded to calls for PRS to reduce its blanket license fees for grassroots music venues. On Tuesday (April 14), the Music Venue Trust launched a campaign titled Set The Record Straight: Fair Licensing Fees, aimed at examining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1883077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1883077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1883077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1883077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1883077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n