Song writers, composers and music publishers, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Harry Styles and Sam Smith received a record £944million in royalty payments last year, industry group PRS for Music says.
The rights management and royalties collection group, which represents more than 175,000 music professionals, said that its revenues climbed 12% or £120.9million to £1.1billion last year. That enabled it to hike royalty payments to its members by 12.8% or £107.4million.
PRS’ revenues broke through the £1billion revenue barrier for the first time thanks a 25.9% increase at its international division, which collects royalties for music played and performed overseas thanks to world tours from the likes of Styles and Smith. They also benefited from double digit increases in collections from Europe and North America driven by increased online and radio play.
Saltburn’s use of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor and Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night in the Barbie movie helped lift PRS’ online, games, film and TV takings 8.5% to £366.5million.
The 110-year old music society says it has doubled its collections and royalty payouts over the last decade, thanks to the technology improvements and business improvements put in place by chief executive Andrea Czapary Martin, who has promised to grow annual royalty payments further.
“My vision to ascend to a billion-pound society in royalties paid out isn’t just a goal—it reflects our commitment to music creators worldwide,” she said.
