October 2022 Distribution Update
We’re delighted to announce a record-breaking PRS distribution this October
We’re paying out more than ever before to PRS members. In fact, we’re distributing over £211 million, an increase of £32.5 million and 18% more than our previous largest payment in October 2021.
We’re also paying out to more members than ever before, so more of you can expect to receive a distribution this October. As we do every year, we’ll be reducing the threshold for payments to UK bank accounts*. Royalties will only need to total £1 or over (instead of the usual £30) to receive a payment in this October distribution.
This is an important step towards our 2026 target of paying out a billion pounds worth of royalties to members each year.
This record-breaking value includes royalties paid for music used in public places such as pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops and other businesses (non-Live Public Performance), and royalties paid when music is played on radio and TV in public places such as pubs, cafés, hotels and hairdressers (Public Reception).
This distribution also includes money previously held to fund potential credit notes to businesses who had paid for a licence but were closed during the pandemic.
We’ve also included reconciliation payments, so you may see a top up in this distribution if you’ve previously received PRS or MCPS royalties from:
- BBC TV and BBC radio usage, paid between July 2021 to April 2022
- Public performance usage, paid between July 2020 to April 2022
Find out more
- International royalties – from a number of societies with larger payments from the American society ASCAP for music used between October and December 2021 and royalties from the German society GEMA for music used between January and March.
- Cable Retransmission – these are royalties generated when a station from the UK (e.g. BBC World News) is picked up by a foreign broadcaster and ‘retransmitted’ in their local territory. These royalties are for music used over various years.
- Apple Music - for music used on the service in January to March 2022.
- Apple iTunes – for music used on this service in April 2022, in addition to scheduled payments from January to March 2022.
- Netflix – for music used on the service between January and March 2022.
- YouTube – Residual payment, including unmatched and unclaimed shares from April 2018 to March 2019.
- Spotify - for music used on the service in January to March 2022.
- Spotify – additional matching of members works following a re-processing of royalties from December 2020 to March 2021.
- Amazon Prime - for music used on the service from October to December 2021.
- Deezer – for music used on the service July 2021 to December 2021 after minor processing delays last quarter.
- Primephonic – for music used on the service from July 2019 to June 2020, being distributed for the first time.
- YouTube Audio - for music used on the service from April 2019 to December 2019, being distributed for the first time.
- General Live - Limited data available for the July distribution as limited surveys completed due to slow reopening after the temporary tightening of covid restrictions at the end of December 2021/beginning of 2022.
- Reduced Classic FM & Classic FM Digital – royalties in this October distribution are lower than in April in July. Classic FM were overpaying relative to projected royalties for the licence year, and we needed to reduce the amount paid out for the rest of the year to make sure overall 2022 distributions are correct. This will likely affect the December 2022 distribution as well.
- French Society SACEM (Q4 2021 – Q1 2022) – Earlier in the year we reached an agreement with the French Tax authorities following a long-standing dispute over tax payments. We are in the final stages of supplying further documents to the French Tax Office and aiming for royalties to be paid out to members by the end of the year.
- MTV (Q1 - Q2 2022) - We’re unable to pay this out in this distribution as we need the data which tells us what music was used. We need this information so we know which members to pay.
- Apple GEOL (Q1 2022) - Licensing discussions are ongoing and need to be agreed before payment can be made.
- Google GEOL (Q1 2022) - Licensing discussions are ongoing and need to be agreed before payment can be made.
- MTOL – YouTube (Music, General Entertainment and SVOD) have been delayed. This is as a result of work required in order to begin 2nd stage invoicing for this service provider.
More detail on the October distributions
Here you'll find further detail on previously held royalties, as well as royalties we weren't able to pay out previously:
