What is the Music Survey

PRS for Music is carrying out a continuous survey of music played in venues and businesses throughout the UK. The information we collect is used to make sure the licence money paid by music users goes to the right people – the writers and publishers of the music played.

How does this affect me?

You may receive a letter asking for your co-operation in helping PRS for Music to improve the accuracy and fairness of royalty payments to its members.

Ipsos, a market research agency, carries out the survey on our behalf. If you are selected, Ipsos will phone you to find out what music you use, and then depending on the type of music you have, they may arrange a time for a researcher to visit.

What does a visit entail?

The Researcher needs to collect details of what music is actually played as part of a national statistical survey of music use. We will use this to distribute royalty payments to PRS for Music members as fairly and accurately as possible.

The Researcher’s job is to note down details of the music played, not to assess the level of licence fee you pay to PRS for Music. They will try not to inconvenience you, your staff or customers in any way, but if you have live music or music played by DJs they may need to speak to the performers or DJs concerned.  Alternatively they may just need to note down details of any background music played.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Rhona Freeman, Contract Manager at rhona.freeman@prsformusic.com or on +44 (0)20 3741 4161