What does PRS for Music do?
PRS for Music is home to the world's best music writers, composers and publishers. Formed as The MCPS-PRS Alliance in 1997 with the PRS for Music brand adopted in 2009, the organisation brings together two royalty collection societies; MCPS and PRS. We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online.
For more information, visit the About Us page
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What is the difference between performing right (PRS) and mechanical rights (MCPS)?
Your performing right entitles you to earn money whenever a song or composition that you have written is played or performed in public. This could be either on television or radio, listened to or downloaded off the internet, performed live, or played in a public space such as a shop or bar.
Mechanical rights entitle you to earn money whenever a song or composition that you have written is reproduced. This includes when your works are recorded onto a physical product (such as a CD or audio-visual product), or listened to or downloaded off the internet.
PRS for Music collects both your performance right and mechanical rights. At present an MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) membership is needed from us in order to collect your mechanical royalties.
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What happened to the MCPS-PRS Alliance?
In January 2009 we changed our name from the MCPS-PRS Alliance to PRS for Music. The name change was to reflect the changing landscape of the music industry. New channels and formats are emerging and music creators still need to make a living. We believe that the former name did not reflect our purpose or personality.
We still provide an excellent service to over 70,000 members who rely on us to collect their royalties. We will still represent our songwriters and composers' performance right and mechanical rights.
For more information on our rebrand please follow this link.
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What is the difference between PRS for Music and PPL?
PPL and PRS for Music respectively offer music licensing solutions to businesses and community groups within the UK to allow them to play or use music legally in public.
PRS for Music collects the license fee on behalf of song writers, composers and publishers. PPL collects the license fee on behalf of the performers and record companies. Together the two companies ensure that creators and companies who invest in creators are fairly remunerated.
For more information on PPL please visit their website.
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What are UK copyright laws?
For information about copyright in the UK, please visit the following links:
Read our overview of copyright
View a more detailed guide on copyright law
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How much of the collected royalties does PRS for Music keep for itself?
PRS for Music is a not for profit organisation. Our admin charges are in place to cover the cost of collecting your royalties. To find out about our admin charges, visit this page.
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