Members' Council

The Members’ Council is focused on making sure that PRS is in close touch with the views, concerns and needs of its members.

There are a broad range of issues discussed at a Members’ Council meeting, including PRS performance and membership strategy, the budget and accounts, funding decisions that affect members, diversity, international issues, and director appointments.

In addition, the formal committees of the Council will look at issues such as financial performance, remuneration, risk, compliance, litigation and succession planning.

Makeup of the Council

The Council is now made up of 25 Council Members:

10 writer Council Members
10 publisher Council Members (of whom 3 are Designated Council Members)
Four independent non-executive Council Members who bring valuable expertise from outside the music industry
One executive director (our CEO)

Chair and Deputy Chair

The Members’ Council is led by a Chair and a Deputy Chair (writer and publisher respectively) who are elected by the Members’ Council from among the Council Members. The Chair and Deputy Chair are always one writer and one publisher, so if the elected Chair is a publisher, the Deputy Chair must be a writer and vice versa. They each serve for a three-year term with a maximum of two terms.

The Chair leads the Council and is responsible for its overall effectiveness in directing PRS. They set the Council’s overall agenda, chair Council meetings and the AGM, encourage Council Members’ performance and effective decision making and set the ethical tone.

The Deputy Chair supports the Chair in implementing key structures and processes for the effective governance of PRS. They promote the interests of all members and the long-term sustainability of the business.

Our current Chair is Julian Nott and Deputy Chair is Alexander Kassner.

President

The President leads the Members’ Council in its focus of being in close touch with the membership. They are appointed from the Writer Council Members for a two-year term with a maximum of two terms.

The President leads initiatives to ensure the best possible member experience, connects with existing members about improving PRS’ services, carries out outreach activity to attract new members and acts as an ambassador and advocate for PRS at external events.

Our current President is Michelle Escoffery.

Length of time on the Members’ Council

A Council Member’s term of office lasts three years. Council Members can serve for a maximum of five terms which do not have to be served consecutively. This is so we can make sure there is a healthy turnover of new voices and to encourage diversity.

The election of writer and publisher Council Members

Principal Voting members can put themselves forward for appointment as a Council Member and must be nominated by ten other Principal Voting members. In the event there are more candidates standing for appointment than seats available, a Members’ Council Ballot (Ballot) is held to determine the eligibility of candidates for appointment or re-appointment. The results of the Ballot are then announced at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) for members' approval.

In the Ballot:

Only writer members and successors to writer members can vote for writer candidates.
Only publisher members, except for Designated Council Members, and successors to publisher members can vote for publisher candidates.

To read more about membership categories visit our website prsformusic.com/membershipcategories