Performance payouts to UK artists surpass expectations
Image credit: Vidar Nordli-Mathisen
UK artists saw a milestone in performance royalty payouts from PRS for Music, breaking expectations and future goals.
PRS for Music have revealed the payouts they made to UK artists in 2024. The PRO company paid a milestone royalty payout of £1.02 billion to artists in performing rights royalties.
This is a milestone in payouts that is especially significant next to to PRS for Music’s goals. The PRO aimed to achieve £1 billion in royalties paid out to artists for the year of 2026. They have now surpassed that goal 2 years early.
They reveal that it took over 100 years for PRS to reach annual collections and distributions of £500 million. They have now doubled that figure in less than a decade from reaching half a billion. PRS claim their growth “has largely been achieved through a renewed commercial mindset and investment in data and technology infrastructure”.
The £1,02 billion paid to rightsholders in performance royalties is up 8.1% on 2023. PRS for Music also increased their overall revenues by 6.1% to £1.15 billion. They point to online royalties as a key driver of growth, which increased by an impressive 9% – growing 846% since 2015.
PRS for Music CEO Andrea Czapary Martin writes: “PRS members have the right to demand their society thinks differently, challenge the norms in an industry where tradition is too often an excuse for inaction. To constantly evolve to meet their changing needs and expectations.
“Indeed, it is because we recognise the need to constantly challenge ourselves that we have been able to double the royalties paid to songwriters, composers, and publishers in less than a decade.”
The UK’s impressive performance rights payouts follows a global trend. We recently learned of India’s astonishing 42% year-on-year increase in performing rights payouts. This is largely due to the recent development of performing rights collection in the market, but represents a global trend.
Many artists are either unaware of performance royalties or don’t know how to collect them. The most surefire way to collect them all is to sign up to a local PRO, like PRS for Music for UK musicians. As more artists unlock a global audience thanks to streaming services and distributors like RouteNote, there are more indie musicians who need to be made aware of the royalties owed them.
When distributing music through RouteNote to digital music services, artists automatically collect their recording royalties on every stream, purchase, or video add. With RouteNote Publishing, we can also help you to collect more of your royalties from performance rights and mechanical licensing.
Find out more and see if you’re eligible for RouteNote Publishing here.