Exhibitions, industry trade shows & consumer fairs tariff consultation

Tariff EX covers all forms of temporary indoor exhibition, including industry trade shows, consumer fairs, fashion shows, music themed cultural exhibitions and fan conventions. Tariff EX does not apply to outdoor Exhibition (including, without limitation to agricultural shows), permanent exhibitions (including, without limitation, at a museum or gallery). Please see Tariff EX for further details

Tariff EX covers music used;

• as background music used in exhibition areas other than areas reserved for the provision of food, drink and other refreshments and/or for the exclusive use of the customer’s employees, agents and contractors (“off-stand”); -
• where applicable, on exhibition stands (including stands serving food and drink as part of an exhibition or trade fair);
• at temporary music themed cultural exhibitions.

Tariff EX does NOT cover performances of our repertoire at exhibitions in areas reserved for the provision of food, drink and other refreshments (other than by an exhibitor on their stand); and/or for the exclusive use of the customer’s employees, agents and contractors. Such uses will be applied under the applicable tariff. In most cases this will be Tariff HR.

Please see tariff HR for further details.

No. Royalties for the live performance of PRS repertoire at exhibitions will not be covered by Tariff EX and will instead be charged by the application of the appropriate PRS for Music public performance tariff.

Previously, a selection of our tariffs, covering various business sectors were used to license the public performance of both live and recorded background music at exhibitions depending on the type of venue at which the event is held. Royalties for the live performance of PRS repertoire at exhibitions will not be covered by Tariff EX and will instead be charged by the application of the appropriate PRS for Music public performance tariff.

The current Exhibitions tariff was created in 2002. This revised tariff:

• Facilitates a simpler method for individual exhibitors and exhibition organisers to meet their collective music licence obligations
• Alleviates the administrative burden from individual exhibitors for obtaining licences directly from PPL PRS
• Reduces confusion at the point of sale for customers as this approach aligns with PPL’s policy for directly licensing exhibition organisers via PPL PRS o
• Ensures all necessary rights of PMSR are appropriately covered through a single licensing arrangement. This will help smaller Exhibition organisers by reducing the administrative costs of obtaining licence cover.

Production Music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio, and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. The use of the PRS repertoire under TheMusicLicence includes both commercial music and production music (often referred to as library or stock music).

Production music publishers own the rights not only in the musical works in their respective libraries but also in the master sound recordings in which those works a recorded. These recordings are referred to as Production Music Sound Recordings (“PMSR”). The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) represent the Production Music Sound Recording right on behalf of its Production Music publisher members.

MCPS have appointed PRS as its agent to license, through PPL PRS Limited, the public playing of Production Music Sound Recording (PMSR) in its repertoire at venues and events at which PRS license the performance of its repertoire of musical works. Tariff EX is the first public performance tariff to cover PMSR rights for customers. The new licence terms for Tariff EX can be found here

PPL does not represent the rights to production music sound recording (PMSR) repertoire. The MCPS inclusion of the rights within Tariff EX will ensure all necessary rights of PMSR are appropriately covered.

Tariff EX does not include the reproduction or synchronisation rights for the use of music in any corporate or promotional videos. The synchronisation rights can be obtained under a separate licence either directly from the rightsholders or via our website where PRS for Music are mandated to do so.

The tariff will now include three separate charging areas; daily royalty rates for music used on exhibitions stands, daily royalty rates for music in off-stand exhibition areas and daily rates that apply to temporary music themed cultural exhibitions. 

On stand and off stand charges (other than at temporary music-themed cultural exhibitions) now cover the playing of PRS repertoire and PMSR by means of the playing of any audio and/or audio-visual devices and applies royalty charges to the public performance of recorded music only.

On-stand and off-stand charges (other than at temporary music-themed cultural exhibitions) include separately itemised charges in respect of PRS for Music Repertoire and Production Music Sound Recording Repertoire (“MCPS PMSR Repertoire”). 

For the new Tariff EX, the daily royalty rate for PRS repertoire used on exhibitions stands is £47.50 per stand. The daily rate for the on-stand PMSR licence is £2.50 per stand. 

Three daily royalty rates of £51.30 for PRS Repertoire (£2.70 for PMSR), £69.35 (£3.65) and £86.45 (£4.55) apply to music used in off-stand exhibition areas, depending on the size of the exhibition venue floor area (SQM).

The scope has been extended to include the public performance rights of the MCPS owned Production Music Sound Recording (PMSR). Please see the Tariff EX consultation and responses for further details.

The revised tariff introduces a new charging metric to calculate royalties to license temporary music themed cultural exhibitions starting on or after the launch date of the new Tariff EX, where a particular artist or group’s work forms an integral feature to the event. Under the revised tariff, charges will be applied to temporary exhibitions irrespective of the type of venue at which they are held, with the exception of exhibitions held at hotels or in permanent museums and galleries, which will continue to be charged under Tariff HR or GP respectively and will cover recorded music only.

Please see the tariff HRand Tariff GP for further information

The mechanism for charging for on-stand is number of stands, per day. Off-stand music remains as floor area for music usage during the event.  

No royalty charges applied to temporary music-themed cultural exhibitions in the previous Tariff EX. 

All royalties except the percentage of revenue charge for temporary ticketed music themed cultural exhibitions, will continue to be subject to the annual inflationary adjustment.

Tariff EX will be launching later this year and will apply to performances at exhibitions commencing on or after this date.

Your licence will cover you and, where applicable, your exhibitors for the public performance and playing of PRS music and MCPS Production Music Sound Recordings on and off stand at exhibitions covered by the new Tariff EX.

All exhibitions should be licensed via the exhibition organiser.

You can purchase your licence from PPL PRS Ltd, who are our appointed agent. You can find details on how to purchase TheMusicLicence on their website. PPL PRS | TheMusicLicence | The UK's public music licensing company

The licence granted to the organiser covers them for on-stand performance and playing of PRS’s and MCPS’s respective repertoires of musical works and Production Music Sound Recordings.

If you are proposing to take an exhibition stand at an exhibition covered by the Tariff EX, you should check with the exhibition organiser that the relevant licence is in place with PPL PRS.

The organiser’s licence under Tariff EX will not cover exhibitors for performance of live music on their respective stands. If you have performances of live music [including featured DJ performances] this will be charged under the appropriate PRS for Music tariff.

Featured music cultural exhibitions at museums and other types of venue where a particular artist or group’s work forms an integral feature of the exhibition are currently charged using the Tariff GP daily indoor exhibitions royalty rates.

The scope of Tariff EX will be widened to include temporary music themed cultural exhibitions and will apply separate rates for ticketed and non-ticketed temporary music themed cultural exhibitions.

The charge for ticketed temporary music themed cultural exhibitions under Tariff EX will be three percent of gross receipts, subject to a minimum charge (£51.30).

For non-ticketed temporary music themed cultural exhibitions, Tariff EX will apply daily rate, determined by floor area (SQM). This is to ensure our charging for music themed cultural exhibitions is consistent across similar types of venues or events. The royalty rates based on the floor area of the exhibition space are split into three bands with a maximum daily rate of £86.45 (per event).

Royalties for temporary music-themed cultural exhibitions that commenced on or before the launch date of the new Tariff EX will be charged (in most cases) under PRS general purposes Tariff GP.

Ticketed: Gross receipts and set lists

For ticketed music themed cultural exhibition events or series of events, the full cost of all tickets must be declared to PPL PRS Ltd, regardless of whether these tickets also offer additional bundled elements (such as VIP features). The tariff does not allow for customers to report a reduced ticket price for any reason whatsoever, including to reflect the perceived value of any bundled elements.

Additional information required for ticketed music themed cultural exhibitions are the number of ticketed admissions to the Exhibition, the amount paid by each visitor and the total number of admissions to the Exhibition, whether by ticket, advertising or advertisers' tokens, membership card or vouchers in lieu of cash or otherwise paid for in money's worth or provided free-of-charge and the amount which would have been paid by the visitor had normal prices been charged. Also required are the gross receipts.

Non – ticketed: Set list, and exhibition floor area SQM.

Organisers of ticketed and non-ticketed temporary music themed cultural exhibitions must provide a list of the musical works performed including the performer(s), title(s) and original artists and, wherever reasonably practical and proportionate, the writer(s) and duration of the performance of the works at the Exhibition.

By agreement between PRS for Music and the Customer, PRS for Music will use reasonable endeavours to undertake collection of the information specified, subject to appropriate access to the event and Exhibition Venue(s) being granted by the Customer to designated PRS for Music representative(s) free of charge.

This information is essential for PRS for Music to be able to accurately distribute the revenue for these types of exhibitions. Please see the Tariff EX further details.

Gross receipts means all monies paid or payable in respect of admission charges in connection with any Music-Themed Cultural Exhibition, less Value Added Tax. This includes where admission is by advertising or advertisers' tokens, membership card or vouchers in lieu of cash or otherwise paid for in money's worth and is the amount which would have been paid by the visitor had normal prices been charged.