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UK songwriter royalties fall without YouTube contribution

27 July 2009 13:35 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 3 comments

Last week PRS for Music, the UK performance royalty collection organization, announced revenue for terrestrial broadcasts and internet streaming in the first half of 2009 was down 6 percent from last year.

PRS for Music collects royalties for close to 60,000 songwriters and music publishers.

An official statement blames "phasing of revenues" for lower than expected earnings, but conveniently doesn't mention the loss of income from YouTube earlier this year. In March, while PRS for Music was renegotiating royalty rates with YouTube, the world's biggest online video service began blocking access to most music videos for UK viewers.

At one point last year YouTube was reportedly responsible for 40 percent of PRS members' video plays. It's hard to imagine that the loss of their royalty payments since March wasn't a major contributor to the revenue decrease.

In May PRS for Music announced new streaming royalty rates, which took effect at the beginning of this month.

The per stream minimum dropped substantially, which should help smaller webcasters. At the same time the basic rate increased to 10.5 percent of revenue from 8 percent.

Permalink to this article | Topics: MP3 & Digital Audio Online music services Online video

Senate Judiciary Committee approves radio royalty bill (20 October 2009)

Judge throws out ASCAP's ringtone money grab (15 October 2009)

Songwriter groups want downloads classified as public performance (19 September 2009)

YouTube music videos back in UK (3 September 2009)

YouTube clarifies Community Guidelines (8 August 2009)

File-sharing sites make musicians more popular (14 May 2009)

Playing music for horses? Pay license fees! (31 March 2009)

YouTube blocking music videos in the UK (10 March 2009)

UK licensing agency warns businesses to pay royalties just in case (3 February 2009)

Lancashire police accused of playing music without a license (15 June 2008)

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Discuss this article!
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 27 July 2009 21:35
Hard to gain a profit when you let the system say who may or may not be heard/seen through royalty terrorism.... [ + quote]
ripxrush (Junior Member) 28 July 2009 2:30
When, Just WHEN will they get it! stop biting the hands that feed you!!! WORK WITH THEM! don't make it hard for them! F#$King idiots! I just don't get it! Its like they are driving them self out of business & really making it hard on them selves & easier for individual labels! Soon most artists will just have a lawyer to draw up copy wrights & then distribute the music them selves & get 90% of their profit! That is my major issue! These guys get a small chunk of what they bring in, the record execs get most of the $! [ + quote]
frostysta (Newbie) 31 August 2009 17:46
Have you heard about www.rfmradio.co.uk playing ONLY Quality Royalty Free Music from unsigned bands and artists that dont request any royalties from anyone, business or otherwise for playing their music. For the PRS to Say "It is a legal requirement for any establishment, if music is being played or used in public, to have a licence" Is slightly misleading as "Royalty Free" music does not require a licence. We have a team of quality Djs now providing music and entertainment on the internet and wifi radios 24 hours a day and the music is filtered so only the best gets aired. Our playlist is expanding daily and each day has a different selection of shows. So tune in today and enjoy Royalty Free Music at its best no longer the poor "lift music" alternative but a way of saving money in these difficult times and giving the struggling bands and singer sing writers the airtime they deserve. So if www.rfmradio.co.uk is the ONLY station you listen to in your business there are NO PRS or other fees to pay Thanks [ + quote]