PRS Writer Share Assignment Policy

The PRS Writer Share is the share of net fees allocated by the Society for distribution to a writer member, according to the Rules of the Society and PRS’s distribution policy from time to time.

The right to receive distributions from PRS of the PRS Writer Share is a contractual right of the writer member. This right is part of your membership agreement with PRS.  

As a writer member you can, subject to certain legal and contractual requirements:   

• Instruct PRS in writing to pay your personal PRS Writer Share distributions to a third party (“Notice”); and/or
• Transfer or sell your personal PRS Writer Share to another person by way of assignment.

Our Policy sets out the conditions under which PRS will recognise and give effect to dealings by a writer member with your personal PRS Writer Share  (“the Policy”).

A payment direction is when a PRS writer member issues a written Notice to PRS to pay a third party either the whole or a stated percentage of their PRS Writer Share.

A Notice (also referred to as a direction to pay or Letter of Direction) is an instruction from a writer member to PRS to pay a third party their PRS Writer Share. 

If you provide PRS with a Notice, you can revoke this instruction at any time unless you’ve assigned (or otherwise disposed of) your PRS Writer Share, or if you’re legally obligated not to terminate your Notice (e.g. because you’re subject to a court order to that effect). 

An assignment of the PRS Writer Share is when you transfer or sell your right to receive royalties to a third party, meaning the third party may then be entitled to receive royalties from PRS. 

A Notice that’s made without an assignment of your underlying PRS Writer Share is referred to as a “bare direction”.

As a writer member, you can by Notice require PRS to pay a third party either the whole or a stated percentage of your PRS Writer Share at any distribution. This is set out in the Rules that form a part of your membership agreement.

We are not obliged to give effect to your Notice if it relates to a specific work or works. However, as set out in the Policy, we may exercise our discretion to give effect to such a Notice.

We will not implement a payment direction in a Notice even if it satisfies the requirements of the Rules if:

• You have disposed of your PRS Writer Share to a person other than the payee specified in your Notice;
• Your PRS Writer Share has vested in a third party by operation of law (e.g. under a bankruptcy order);
• PRS has been ordered by a court to pay the whole or part of your PRS Writer Share to a person other than the payee specified in your Notice; or;
• A party other than the payee specified in your Notice has a prior right to receive the whole or part of your PRS Writer Share.

You can terminate your Notice at any time and ask PRS to resume paying the PRS Writer Share to you or to another person, unless you have also assigned your PRS Writer Share to a third party (such as the payee named in your Notice).

If you’ve assigned your PRS Writer Share, you will not be able to revoke the Notice without the consent of the assignee, unless there is an express provision in the assignment agreement stating otherwise.

We will need to treat your Notice as terminated if:  

• You're declared bankrupt;
• You cease to be a member of PRS; 
• You assign your PRS Writer Share to a person other than the payee named in your Notice; or;
• We are directed by a court to pay your PRS Writer Share to a person other than the payee named in your Notice.

No. You can direct us to pay your PRS Writer Share to a third party even if you have not assigned your underlying PRS Writer Share to that party (see bare direction above).
We’re required to give effect to the direction given in your Notice if:

• Your notice doesn’t relate to a specific work or works;
• It satisfies the Rules of the society; and;
• There are no other restrictions on your ability to give us a Notice.

If your Notice contains a direction to pay a third party your royalties for all of your works, including future works, PRS will implement this direction if there are no other restrictions on your ability to direct us to pay that party. This direction can be for either the whole or a specific percentage of your PRS Writer Share. If it is a bare direction, the Notice will be treated as revocable by you at any time.

If you’ve made an unconditional assignment in writing to a third party for the whole (100%) of your PRS Writer Share, for all of your works and future works:

• We will implement any Notice given by you pursuant to such an assignment in accordance with its terms; and;
• This Notice cannot be revoked by you without consent of the assignee.

If you’ve made an assignment to a third party for your writer share for all of your works, including future works but this assignment is either time-bound (e.g. for a limited period or limited number of distributions), conditional, or only for a specific proportion of your PRS Writer Share (e.g.: 50%):

• We will implement any Notice given by you pursuant to such an assignment in accordance with its terms; and;
• This Notice cannot be revoked by you without the consent of the assignee, unless there is an express provision in the assignment agreement stating otherwise. 

Work-specific Notices and assignments are prohibited under our Rules. However, this may be waived if certain conditions are met (as set out in the Policy).

If your Notice is a bare direction to pay a third party all or part of your royalties for some of your works, PRS is under no obligation to implement this and can choose to implement the Notice at its absolute discretion. If PRS agrees to implement such a Notice, you can revoke the direction at any time.

If your Notice is made pursuant to a work-specific assignment for some but not all of your works, PRS will give effect to this Notice if it satisfies all of the following conditions specified in the Policy:

• You must provide written notice and evidence of the assignment;
• You must have obtained independent legal advice about the effect of this assignment;
• You acknowledge that this assignment discharges our duty to pay you for the assigned share;
• The third party agrees in writing to pay PRS any administration fees necessary to facilitate the assignment;
• The assignment is not just for works you’ve written under a commission or employment by the third party;
• There are no other operational impediments preventing us from implementing the assignment;
• The assignment does not relate to a single work;
• Your aggregate earnings in the 12 months immediately preceding our receipt of your notice must meet any financial threshold PRS requires.

If we choose to implement the assignment, this Notice cannot be revoked by you, unless there is an express provision in the assignment agreement stating otherwise.

If you have a work-specific assignment which satisfies most but not all of the conditions set out in the Policy, we will consider applications on a case-by-case basis. Please see Section 13.3 of the Policy for further information.

We will not give effect to your Notice or assignment if you have already disposed of your PRS Writer Share to PRS under the terms of PRS’s advance scheme (please see the Regulations for a Royalty Advance Schedule) and either:

• PRS has not deducted and retained the sums advanced from out of the distributions payable to you at the time such Notice or assignment is to take effect; or;
• You have not made arrangements to repay the advance in full on completion of the transaction under which you have agreed to direct or assign your PRS Writer Share to a third party.

If you ask us to give effect to a work-specific Notice (and we agree to this at our absolute discretion) or a work-specific assignment (and the prohibition is waived), there is a fixed administration fee (currently £400 plus VAT) payable by the third party. The charge may be waived if the third party is already a member.

If we receive notice of a Legal Claim which relates to a dispute over the entitlement to the PRS Writer Share from either yourself or the third party, PRS will follow the process under Section G of the Policy.

We have produced a template Notice and assignment wording for the convenience of writers and their representatives. You are strongly encouraged to seek your own independent legal advice to adapt the wording to meet the requirements of your unique arrangement.

Please contact our Membership team at writerquery@prsformusic.com with the email subject line “Writer Share LOD/Agreement template request” to request these templates.

To tell us about a Notice or assignment you’ve entered into, please refer to the Letters of Direction Implementation Information document.

Email your documentation to our Membership team at writerquery@prsformusic.com. Please include the following information in the subject line:“[Member Name/IPI No.] PRS Writer Share Notice to [name of purchaser]”.