UK songwriter online royalties top £51m
PRS for Music announces £641.8m collected in 2012 and UK songwriter online royalties top £51m
PRS for Music today reported a record £641.8m collected in royalties for songwriters, composers and music publishers in the 2012 fiscal year, a 1.7% increase on 2011.
Expansion in the online market, especially streaming services, netted £51.7m in music royalties. This is the highest figure to date and up 32.2% on 2011’s £38.5m. Over the last five years average annual growth for online has been 27%. New licensing deals with Google Play, Vevo and Microsoft Xbox and the renewal of existing agreements means UK creators now receive 8% of their royalty income from online music services.
The organisation collects royalties for over 95,000 members and licenses in excess of 350,000 UK businesses including 300 radio stations and 450 television channels. Royalties from broadcasters in 2012 rose by 3.1% to £153m representing almost 24% of overall income for music creators.
International revenues suffered a decline of 4.1% due to significant exchange rate losses, specifically because of the Euro and a challenging economic climate in many countries. Despite these challenges, international royalty revenue provided UK music creators with their single largest source of income at £180.1m. 2012 was a year when UK songwriters continued to dominate internationally with Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris enjoying global chart success and other prominent writers seeing their music accompany television and film content worldwide.
Copyright remains fundamental to the continued success of our members both at home and abroad, while the ever-increasing importance of licensed online services such as iTunes and Spotify underlines the value of music to the internet economy.
Royalty revenue collected
| £ Million | 2011 | 2012 |
% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue - royalties | 630.80 | 641.8 |
1.7% |
| Interest and other income | 4.5 | 4.6 | 2.2% |
| Total revenue | 635.30 |
646.4 | 1.7% |
| Costs | 76.5 | 72.6 |
-5.1% |
| Charitable donations | 1.5 | 1.5 |
- |
| Net Distributable Revenue | 557.3 | 572.3 |
2.7% |
Royalty revenue collected by source
£ Million |
2011 | 2012 | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcast | 148.4 | 153 | 3.1% |
| Online | 39.1 | 51.7 | 32.2% |
| International | 187.7 | 180.1 | -4.0% |
| Public Performance | 131.4 | 135.4 | 3.0% |
| Live | 22.5 | 19.3 | -14.2% |
| Recorded Media | 101.7 | 102.3 | 0.6% |
| Total | 630.8 | 641.8 | 1.7% |
About PRS for Music
Here for music since 1914, PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 175,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers. Redefining the global standard for music royalties, PRS for Music ensures songwriters and composers are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public.
For 110 years it has grown and protected the rights of the music creator community, paying out royalties with more accuracy, transparency and speed. In 2023, PRS for Music paid out £943.6m in royalties and collected a record £1.08 billion in revenues. prsformusic.com
