{"id":106430,"date":"2025-11-20T12:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=106430"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:21:19","slug":"uk-nightclub-music-royalties-misallocated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/uk-nightclub-music-royalties-misallocated\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists losing millions from misallocated UK nightclub royalties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Fair Play report has shown that outdated systems are failing UK artists in nightclubs and festivals.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New research reveals that a huge chunk of UK club royalty payments are going to the wrong people – and many electronic, underground, and independent artists are being short-changed. As The Guardian<\/a> reports, according to the Berlin-based Fair Play<\/a> initiative, only 28% of the fees paid by the average UK nightclub are being properly distributed to the musicians whose songs are actually played. That means over \u00a35.7 million a year is being misallocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem comes down to how performance-rights organisations work today versus how they were designed decades ago. Ethan Holben, leader of the Fair Play report, puts it bluntly, \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in the industry is a fundamental imbalance. DJs can command substantial fees for playing other people\u2019s music, yet the producers whose tracks are being played in clubs and festivals around the world often make little or nothing. Many don\u2019t even know their music is being played.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a Performing Rights Organisation?<\/a><\/blockquote>