"Live industry dated"

PRS are fighting to get artists more money from the live industry

23 June 2008 - The Performing Rights Society (PRS) has called the payments from the live music industry to songwriters “out of date”.

The PRS collects takings from live music events on behalf of songwriters and they say that artists have seen their earnings drop by 10% over the past five years, while the total value of the live music sector has risen 35% over the same period.

This boom in the live industry is down to increasing capital gained from all the pricey extras - merchandise, food, drink, parking and sponsorship.

Talks have begun between the PRS, who represent 60,000 composers and songwriters, and concert promoters and festival organisers - to try and change the way songwriters and composers are paid from live events.

In the present system, decided 20 years ago, songwriters receive 3% of the face value of each ticket, a system which Adrian Crooks believes is dated.

He told 6 Music: “The live music scene is booming as we know, and what happens is composers and songwriters are paid for their music which is played at live events on a percentage of ticket price.

“And there are so many things involved in the live music scene nowadays that is pushing up the value of live music, but that money is not coming back to the composers and songwriters themselves.”

"That money is not coming back to the composers and songwriters themselves."
Adrian Crooks

It is estimated that this year’s live music takings will reach 1.5 billion for the first time and Crooks explained how the songwriters and composers are losing on many fronts.

“There’s lots of other things that make up the live music mix these days like merchandising and food and drink or whatever,” he said, “but also the secondary ticketing market whereby if a ticket is resold, the composer or songwriter doesn’t get any kind of value of that second sale.”

If punters miss out on tickets first time round it is not uncommon to pay a considerable amount more for tickets - and as Crooks described, the songwriter does not see any of that money.

The PRS have begun talks with promoters and concert organisers and Crooks explained their aims: “To talk about the issues that songwriters and composers face, and together perhaps find a way of moving forward so it recognises the value that the creator of the music puts to the live music event.”

Crooks believes that the PRS has an important task ahead, as representatives of artists and songwriters, and hopes for action to move on over the course of 2008.

He concluded: “We’d expect during the course of the year to continue that dialogue and consult with our other music using customers in the live music area with a view this year to find a way forward.”

Georgie Rogers