For the first time ever in its 110 year history, one of Britain’s biggest royalties collectors for songwriters has exceeded the £1 billion revenue mark.
In 2023, PRS for Music, a company that represents over 175,000 songwriters composers and publishers of music, including Harry Styles Sam Smith and Shani Twain collected £1.1 billion.
The fee is charged when a work of an artist is streamed or downloaded, broadcasted, used in films and television shows, or played in bars, restaurants, and shops. It paid £943.6 millions in royalties, a record amount. This puts it in front of its five-year plan of £1 billion to be distributed to members by 2026.
Online royalties from streaming music, video on demand and gaming have grown at their highest rate ever of 23,2 per cent to £360.3 millions.
The social media platform TikTok went viral with Escapism, a song by Raye featuring rapper 070 Shake. The song was one of the most streamed songs in the past year featuring PRS writers. The new seasons of television dramas Top Boy The Crown Succession and The Bear released last year also helped. All of these featured music from artists in the PRS Library.
Originally called the Performing Right Society by a group music publishers including William Boosey, Oliver Hawkes and others, it was founded in 14 by a group. It has more than 40 millions songs and compositions in its repertoire.
Music by writers performed abroad generated an additional £70 million in its international business division last year. Harry Styles’, Sam Smith’s and Shania Twain’s world tours contributed to an increase of 93 percent in international live earnings to £45.9million. Europe was still its biggest market where it earned more than £181million. However, royalties in North America increased by a fifth, to £21.1million, due to higher income from online and radio.
Royalties for live performances increased by 2 percent to £188.2 millions. The company stated that this was due to the continued success of stadiums and arenas, as well as a contribution made from special events such last year’s Eurovision hosted in Liverpool.
The membership of the society has increased by 10,000 over the last 12 months. This is more than any previous year. It was mainly due to the addition of a large number new artists, primarily from Asia and Africa.
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