How musicians can maximise performance rights? Find out from the PRS expert

Could you give us a brief overview of how PRS works for classical composers?

PRS for Music represents the rights of over 150,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK and around the world. As a membership organisation, it works to ensure that creators are paid when their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public.

I manage PRS for Music’s relationships with classical composers, publishers, and organisations in the wider classical sector, providing business support and maximising revenues for classical music. I work with education providers to raise awareness about PRS for Music and help composers and publishers make best use of our services. Through a series of collaborations with arts organisations and ensembles, PRS for Music has created a portfolio of workshops, showcases and commissioning partnerships to support composers and promote their work.

PRS for Music works closely with its two charity partners, PRS Members’ Fund, who provide support to members facing illness or hardship, and PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading funder of new music. We are incredibly proud that two of the composers nominated at The Ivors Composer Awards this year have taken part in PRS for Music development workshops, and 26 of the nominees received funding from PRS Foundation.

How has the pandemic changed the nature of your work?

Our main priority during the pandemic has been to maximise royalty distributions to our members. We know that public performance revenue from this year will be heavily impacted due to the loss of live performances in the UK and overseas, and this is especially true for composers and publishers in the classical sector, where live performance is the primary source of income.

We have launched a series of webinars for new members to help them make the most of their membership and have seen a significant increase in composers contacting us for advice and support. We had planned a series of composer workshops with The Riot Ensemble and Mira Calix earlier this year, which were transformed into online workshops and six solo commissions for composers, working remotely with musicians in the ensemble. Written and recorded during the first lockdown, the commissions were premiered on BBC Radio 3 in August and have now been released online in partnership with Zeitgeist.

In response to the pandemic, the PRS Emergency Relief Fund launched on 25 March, two days after the UK went into lockdown. A collaboration between PRS Foundation, PRS Members’ Fund and PRS for Music, the fund has helped over 4,500 songwriters and composers, with more than £2m paid out so far. A number of classical composers applied for, and were successful in receiving, an Emergency Relief Fund grant, especially in the first round.

What is the nature of PRS’s relationship with streaming services such as Spotify? How has this changed over the last few years?

Royalties generated from online platforms, including downloads, online video games, and traditional streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, are the fastest growing revenue stream for PRS for Music. In 2019, online royalties grew by 24.2% (£34.9m) to £179.1m.

While streaming revenues are growing, these benefits are not necessarily being realised across all genres of music. As Tasmin Little, Fenella Humphreys and Stuart MacRae have so eloquently highlighted this year, the classical community generally sees very low returns from online streaming services.

As an industry, we must ensure the classical music community can continue to innovate and grow, even during these challenging and unprecedented times. Finding a model through which classical music can benefit from the growth in online streaming services will be an important part of this.

How do you see lockdown culture impacting the livelihoods of composers over the next year? What impact has it already had?

We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of streamed and pre-recorded concerts being made available online, which brings positives for composers and audiences alike, but we have to consider how to make these methods of engaging with music more sustainable for all those in the classical music ecosystem. Many concerts have been available free of charge and while it’s definitely important that music should be accessible to all, we must balance that with recognising the true value of music and the work that goes into its creation and performance, whether to a live audience or online.

Before the second lockdown in England, I was fortunate to attend some concerts at Britten Pears Arts. Hearing live music for the first time in six months was incredibly moving, and a powerful reminder that some experiences cannot be replicated online. While we should embrace technology as part of our art form going forwards, we have to protect our venues so they can reopen their doors when audiences are able to return. Continued government support is essential for organisations and individuals, which will have a significant impact on composers through the programming and commissioning of new music over the coming months.

Do you have any advice in terms of areas that composers could and should be exploring in order to maximise the reach of their music?

I’d encourage composers to think about recordings of their work as early as possible. It’s often seen as something that more naturally comes later in a composer’s career, but recordings are a vital part of sharing music with audiences, commissioners and programmers. At PRS for Music, our workshops have evolved to reflect this, focussing more on good quality recordings that composers can use to promote their work. Recordings can also help composers to build more sustainable careers by opening up other revenue streams from downloads, streaming and radio broadcasts. As we’re seeing a shift in priorities brought about by the pandemic, I hope that more support will be given to funding recordings for composers and organisations going forwards.

Composers can maximise their royalties from PRS for Music by keeping their contact and bank details up to date, registering their works and reporting live performances of their works when they can take place. This helps to ensure that composers receive the royalties they are due, and I’m always happy to hear from composers who have questions or need advice about using our services. It’s one of those areas that people tend to put off, but we’re here to help. Getting on top of this admin can lead to increased royalties and I’ve had composers tell me that understanding how it all works gives them peace of mind – there are few things more rewarding than knowing you’ve made a difference to someone’s livelihood in that way.

PRS for Music sponsors the Ivors Composer Awards, which is taking place at 7:30pm on 1^st December on BBCR3 with Tom Service and Kate Molleson. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pxmy