One of the most useful metaphors I’ve encountered when explaining the importance of human creativity, copyright and fair compensation is imagining the music community as a natural ecosystem. At every level, a sustainable amount of nutrition and a mix of diversity — from the tiny plants and insects to the majestic 500-year-old oak tree – is required. None of it exists without the rest.
Similarly, all parts of the music community are dependent on one another. From the current top 10 singles through to grassroots music creators, they all belong to a flourishing musical ecosystem that we should be incredibly proud of, particularly here in the UK. With that in mind, we must preserve the underpinning solid structure that copyright and fair compensation provide to this ecosystem.
Over the coming decades, there will be a crucial debate about what it means for humans to create art — human artistry, if you will. The voices and compelling stories told by creators are vital to music-making, and I fear that if we let the music ecosystem break down over the next five to 10 years, it will be difficult to rebuild. Without a culture that encourages music education in schools and among young people, an entire generation of potential young musicians won’t get the chance to pick up an instrument.
PRS for Music has been at the forefront of sustaining, innovating and strongly advocating for this music ecosystem for decades. In recent years, the most significant challenge to this support has been the emergence of a three-way dialogue: government and regulators on one side, multinational tech companies on another, and us creators, caught in the middle.
‘When PRS takes a stance on behalf of music creators, it speaks with authority.’
Effective advocacy involves explaining to tech companies that the success of their streaming platforms, whether that is TV and film or music, hinges on the content, and that content is made by us creators. Simultaneously, we must convey this to the governments that regulate these companies, creating an advocacy triangle that is more fundamental than ever.
I’ve been part of PRS advocacy delegations who lobby governments in the UK, the EU and beyond. The PRS connection has got me in the room with politicians, but the real connection is the love of music that we share. When you find that common ground with a politician, they go from being a committee member or party representative to someone who lights up when talking about music. Whether it’s them remembering learning an instrument when they were a kid or recognising music I’ve worked on from films or TV shows, music is a wonderful cultural bridge that spans the political divide. It then becomes about sharing in what music, film and TV can be at their very best: entertaining, inspiring and moving, which gives them their validity.
There are two sides to advocacy: being present and being effective. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you’re trying to explain your position to government, the public or any other group, the first question we often get asked is, ‘How many people is this affecting?’ The fact that PRS represents 175,000 members — from those who’ve just written their first song to those with long careers in entertainment — means that the scale argument can be made very quickly.
While PRS represents a large group, there also needs to be space for individual voices from the music community to be heard. Without personal and real connections with politicians or representatives from tech companies or trade organisations, the issue can become distant. PRS’s role in advocacy is to provide this sense of scale in terms of its vast membership, while also highlighting the stories and experiences that can directly connect with the people in positions of power.
A body like PRS possesses a practical infrastructure that can process trillions of lines of data every year, which is an extraordinary technical achievement. The success of that achievement gives them a strong position of validity as a membership organisation, one that can stand up on behalf of the composer community and back it up with hard data evidence. PRS has a unique insight into the day-to-day economics of being a music creator, which means that when PRS takes a stance on behalf of creators, it speaks with authority.
PRS’s role as the representative body for 175,000 songwriters, composers and publishers is vital. As an organisation that represents its members with conviction, there has never been a more important time for PRS to exist than right now.
This article features in a special edition of M Magazine celebrating 110 years of PRS. You can read the magazine here.
