This guidance will outline when you need to pay performing rights fees and how to pay them.
Performing Rights are the right to play or perform a piece of copyright music in public
If you are putting on a public performance of music in copyright it is your responsibility to ensure that you have permission to play the piece and that any royalties are paid. But don’t worry – it’s not as complicated as it might sound; you do not have to get permission and make a payment for each performance and to each composer individually.
PRS for Music (formerly the Performing Rights Society) is a collecting society representing the performing rights of its songwriter, composer and music publisher members in the UK. PRS for Music licenses the use of its members’ music, collects royalty payments on their behalf and then distributes them. This means any royalty payments go to one organisation rather than to the individual copyright owners. You can pay royalty fees to PRS for Music in one of three ways:
Recorded Music: this guidance will focus on the royalty payment aspect of live performing rights only. If you play recorded music in public you will almost certainly need a licence from both PRS for Music and Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), the collecting society responsible for licensing sound recordings on behalf of record companies and performers. You can find out more on the PPL website.
Music is performed ‘in public’ when it is performed outside what could be regarded as the domestic circle or home life. This means an event which is not in the privacy of your own home and is not a ‘family’ gathering. You can find further information on the PRS website.
It does not matter if the event is free of charge, taking place outside or limited to only group members – if it is taking place outside the domestic circle or home life, it is a public performance and royalties may be due (assuming the work is in copyright).
A common query we have and a good example is: a group have an end of term get together for members and invited guests. It is in a village hall, free, invite only and not open to the public. The get together involves a sing-song around the piano: this would be classed as a public performance.
However, there are some exceptions:
Music used in wedding ceremonies, civil wedding ceremonies and civil partnership ceremonies: PRS for Music, at its discretion, does not charge for music use as part of official wedding ceremonies or similar, in whatever premises the ceremony takes place. This includes:
PRS for Music does not make a charge for functions of a purely domestic or family nature, such as wedding receptions, christening parties or domestic birthday parties, when:
If the performance is for residents only then it is classed as in the domestic circle, therefore not a public performance and no royalties will be due (staff are allowed to attend).If anyone else is present (e.g. relatives/guests of the residents, a local school etc), then it would be a public performance and royalties would be due.
Once you have established whether your performance is a public performance, you need to find out if any of the music you will be performing is in copyright.
Important note: Royalty fees are charged based on the concert as a whole, rather than the individual piece(s) of music performed. So if any of the music you are performing in a concert is in copyright – even if it is just one piece - you will owe royalties for that concert. Royalty fees are normally based on audience size or box office takings, depending on how you pay them – see step 3 below for more info.
| Example: if you perform 15 pieces of music in a concert and only one is in copyright - you will owe PRS on that concert. If all 15 are in copyright you will still owe royalties – but would pay the same amount – as royalties are based on audience size/box office. If none of the pieces are in copyright then you won’t pay any royalties. |
How do I know if a piece of music is in copyright?
In the UK a piece of music is usually in copyright for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the composer dies. So if the composer is still alive, or it is 70 years or less since they died, it will be in copyright and royalties will be due. It is important to remember it is the date of the death of the composer, and not the date the piece was composed, that determines whether music is in copyright.
A key thing to understand about copyright is that it does not just apply to composers. It also applies to arrangers, collectors of songs, editors, authors, and translators of words of music. So if someone rearranges a piece of music that is out of copyright, the new arrangement will be in copyright and the arranger will own the copyright. Likewise, if someone were to collect various songs that are out of copyright and put those into one collection, that collection would be in copyright. The 70-year rule would apply to both the arranger and collector. Some examples:
If I am not sure how can I find out?
Contact the publisher directly. If you are in any doubt as to whether the music you are performing is within copyright, the first step would be to get in touch with the relevant publisher directly. They should know whether you need to pay any royalties to PRS for Music.
Contact the Music Publishers’ Association (MPA). The MPA can also help you to find out whether music is still within copyright or not, including arrangements of non-copyright work etc. You will be able to find further general information on copyright issues on their website.
Contact PRS for Music. If after contacting the publisher and MPA you are still unsure as to whether you should be paying royalties you can contact PRS for Music.
You have confirmed that your performance is public and at least one piece of the music performed is in copyright. How do you pay the royalties?
The organiser: an important thing to understand is that it is the organiser of the performance who is responsible for royalties. If you are invited to play at someone else’s concert, it is the organisers’ responsibility to declare royalties and ensure they are paid.
Venue: if you are the organiser, the first thing to check is whether the venue has an arrangement (licence) with PRS for Music. Most dedicated music venues hold a licence that allows them to pay based on a percentage of box office takings for each individual event (with a minimum fee applicable). Search the list of licensed premises on the PRS website. If the venue you are using does have a licence, they are responsible for paying any royalty fees to PRS for Music. If the venue does not have a licence, you as the organiser are responsible for paying royalty fees, which you can do through Making Music (see below).
Typically venues pass the percentage of box office takings PRS charges them onto the hirer as part of the hire agreement, with no extra fees. Some venues may add an admin fee to this charge. Venues most commonly have a licence with two tariffs, depending on the genre of music:
If and event includes both classical and popular music, the tariff used should be decided by which genre makes up most of the performance (i.e. majority classical = LC tariff).
If your concert contains no copyright music, then the venue should not be charging you a royalty fee.
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LC tariff discount for leisure-time music groups. The LC tariff includes a 50% discount for leisure-time music groups where the performers are leisure-time musicians. Most Making Music members get this discount, and so the LC rate is 3.25%.
The LC tariff uses the word amateur instead of leisure-time and define amateur as: Amateurs means an individual or group operated by volunteers, whose performers are primarily unpaid. If a group earns ticket revenue, they may still be considered Amateur if the majority of revenue goes towards the running of the group (e.g. transportation costs, venue hire, score rental etc). Groups are still considered Amateur if they engage a small minority of professionals to assist with the group performances (e.g. hiring a conductor, substitute players in the event of illness). If you are a preforming leisure-time music group let the venue know at the point of booking to be sure you get the 50% discount for the LC tariff. If the venue does not offer the discount you can get in contact us. |
Making Music – PRS for Music royalty fee collection scheme
If the venue does not have a licence then the onus falls on you, the organiser, to pay any royalty fees. This is where the Making Music PRS payment scheme comes in: we have negotiated an umbrella licence agreement with PRS for Music and agreed a tariff for our member groups - which means your PRS royalty payments could not be simpler:
The tariff for Making Music members is dependent on whether the event is free or ticketed. Free events are based on audience size – so the bigger the audience the higher the fee. Whereas ticketed events are based on a percentage of gross ticket income as outlined on our PRS tariff. To make this easy we collect payments retrospectively. So when you renew your membership in November of any given year you are paying royalties on concerts performed between 1 November the previous year and 31 October of the current year.
The prices on the tariff do change each year – you can view the current tariff here. We announce when the new prices are available so you can budget for the coming year. Our license is based on the LC tariff and performing groups do get the 50% discounted rates.
We will send you a renewal form with details of how to make royalty payments every November. You will also need to submit a copy of the programme for each concert as part of your renewal.
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Tip: after every performance keep a copy of the programme and just write the audience size (for free events)/total ticket income and average ticket price (for ticketed events) on the programme and make sure that the group's name, date of performance, venue and the pieces performed (including composer/arranger name) are clearly visible. Then when it is renewal time you will have everything you need ready to go. |
Please note: you cannot send us programmes and declarations before the renewal period.
If you do not owe any royalties to us (perhaps because you have already paid through your venue or you didn’t perform any works in copyright) you will need to sign a declaration confirming this as part of your membership renewal.
Please note: if you decide not to renew your membership you can still settle any royalties with us for the preceding year.
Important things to remember about paying royalties through Making Music:
Our royalty fee collection scheme with PRS for Music does not cover festivals. We do not anticipate that this will affect many groups but if you are a festival, it is important that you read the information below:
First of all – are you a festival in the eyes of PRS for Music?
The PRS for Music definition of a festival is: an organised programme of activities, cultural events or entertainment held in one or more venues within a single town or area with more than one activity taking place in any one day.
If your group does not fit that definition you do not have to do anything else and can continue to pay royalty fees through Making Music.
If your group does fit the definition you need to read the criteria below. If your festival fits any of the criteria then you may not be able to license your event through Making Music. Are you a festival that:
If you can answer yes to any of the above three options please contact us so we can look into your situation further. In the first instance please email us with your group name, a brief overview of your festival activities, a link to further information (if available) and a contact name and number.
Festivals that do have to pay royalties directly to PRS for Music:
You can find out more about licensing festivals on the PRS for Music website and/or contact PRS for Music on 0845 300 6033 or at live.musiclicence@prsformusic.com for more information.
Some community buildings (village halls etc.) may have a Community Building licence. Where they do your performance will be covered by their licence. It is a flat fee annual licence based on the community building’s annual income. Some community buildings pass this onto hirers – others do not. When they do it is generally as a flat fee as part of the hire agreement rather than as a percentage of box office sales (as with other venue licences). We have heard of some community buildings charging a fee when the music being performed is not in copyright. There is nothing to stop them doing this – but you can try speaking with them and explaining the situation. Community buildings do not have to report on repertoire performed so may not ask for programme details – if they do not you can contact us instead.
PRS for Music does not control the licensing for music from dramatico-musical works (a theatrical show which has music specially written for it, including operas, musicals, ballet and some pantomimes and revues).
The rights for dramatico-musical works (known as Grand Rights) are normally controlled by the publisher of the work and you have to pay them directly.
However it depends on how much of the work you are performing and how:
A staged or semi-staged performance is one that involves some performance beyond the music that is suggestive of the work - for example costume, characterisation, scenery, props or choreography. A performer wearing a mask while singing a song from The Phantom of the Opera would count as semi-staged. Some simple choreography such as finger clicking, a change in stance or arm movements would not count.
If you are performing music from a dramatico-musical work we suggest you read our Grand Rights guidance.
If you are performing at a school as part of the school activities where the entirety of any profits goes back into the school –royalties will be covered by the school’s licence.
If you are hiring a school venue as a 3rd party you will need to pay royalties yourselves, via Making Music.
PRS for Music only looks after royalty payments for performances within the UK. If you are going on a tour outside the UK then you will have to sort out performing rights with the corresponding performing rights body in each country you visit.
Unfortunately the rules vary from country to country so it is hard to give guidance. Often specialist music touring travel agencies will help you take care of the performing rights. You can find details of the various bodies for different countries on the PRS website.
You might not need to pay a performance fee if the work being performed is not published, and the composer of the piece of music is not a member of PRS for Music or any of its affiliated societies. However you would still need the permission of the copyright holder and they may charge a fee to give this.
This may be a particular relevance to groups performing compositions by a Music Director who does not compose music on a regular basis, and who may have composed a piece of music specifically for his or her choir “as a one off”. However, it is within the right of the composer to demand a direct performance royalty if their works are to be performed.
Music Publishers Association
Web: www.mpaonline.org.uk
Tel: 020 3741 3800
Email: info@mpaonline.org.uk
PPL
Web: www.ppluk.com
Tel: 020 7534 1000
Email: info@ppluk.com
PRS for Music
Web: www.prsformusic.com
Tel: 020 7580 5544
Email: live.musiclicence@prsformusic.com
We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music does not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.
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