Our history
1910 Mecolico (the Mechanical Copyright Licences Company) formed to license the mechanical right in anticipation of the 1911 Copyright Act.
1911 Copyright Act (implemented 1 July 1912) in the UK. Brought provisions on copyright into one Act for the first time
1914 PRS (the Performing Right Society Ltd) formed to administer the 'Performing Right' (non dramatic performance and broadcasting right) in UK, Eire and British Empire
1923 First PRS Licence issued to the BBC
1924 Mecolico (Mechanical Copyright Licenses Co Ltd) and CPS (Copyright Protection Society Ltd) merge to form MCPS: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society
1926 Lesley Boosey, Vivian Ellis and Gustav Holst join PRS
1927 Edward Elgar joins PRS
1936 Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Jack Payne and Henry J Wood join PRS
1937 BBC licence from PRS includes Television
1952 Charles Chaplin, T.S Elliot and Joseph Horovitz join PRS
1956 The Performing Right Tribunal established under 1956 Copyright Act (now the Copyright Tribunal)
1956 Copyright Act (implemented 1 June 1957) amendments to 1911 Act
1960 PRS moves to offices in Berners Street, W1
1963 John Lennon and Paul McCartney join PRS
1964 Ray Davies, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards join PRS
1967 Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb (the Bee Gees) and David Bowie join PRS
1968 Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber join PRS
1969 Eric Clapton joins PRS
1970 Elton John, Phil Collins and Yoko Ono join PRS
1978 Mark Knopfler and Gordon Sumner (Sting) join PRS
1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (implemented 1 August 1989) replaces 1956 Copyright Act
1989 Publishers consolidate Phono-mechanical (record) licensing through MCPS
1989 IMRO (Irish Musical Rights Organisation) established as subsidiary of PRS
1995 IMRO achieved Independence
1996 PRS and MCPS commence discussions on a joint operational alliance
1998 MCPS & PRS complete operational alliance under one management team - The MCPS-PRS Alliance
1998 British Music Rights launched
2000 PRS launches a charitable foundation - The Performing Right Society Foundation for New Music
2002 The MCPS-PRS Alliance develops the Joint Online Licence - the first dual licensing system aimed at encouraging the growth of legitimate online music services
2002 43rd CISAC World Congress hosted in London by the MCPS-PRS Alliance
2004 The MCPS-PRS Alliance joins FastTrack – the network of international collecting societies formed to improve the exchange of repertoire information worldwide.
2004 MCPS and PRS are the first collecting societies to distribute iTunes royalties to members
2005 Scissor Sisters join PRS
2006 The Alliance is taken to the UK Copyright Tribunal by a consortium of digital music service providers and mobile network operators led by the BPI
2008 Issued the first in a series of annual ‘Adding up the UK music industry’ economic insight reports
2009 Awarded the first PRS for Music Heritage Award to Blur
2009 Worked with PPL on joint research into the value of music to business
2009 The MCPS-PRS Alliance adopts the PRS for Music brand
2009 Launched our Code of Practice for public performance licensing
2010 Robert Ashcroft appointed as Chief Executive of PRS for Music
2010 Launched our membership Code of Practice
2010 Issued our first licence for cloud music services
2010 Launched the International Copyright Enterprise (ICE) with Swedish society STIM
2010 Launched a joint venture with the Nordic Copyright Bureau (NCB) to cooperate on recorded media royalty processing
2010 Raised £30,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust with our Art of the Song auction
2010 ICE selected as the technology to underpin a future Global Repertoire Database
2011 Provided input into the Hargreaves review of Intellectual Property and Growth
2011 Work in partnership with SACEM to sign breakthrough licensing deal with Emaar properties in Dubai
2011 IMAGEM appoints Dutch collecting society Buma/Stemra and PRS for Music to license and administer its online rights on a pan-European basis