Royalties are a payment made to a composer or artists that when their music is played or performed in the real world. This includes airplays, TV broadcastings, public places e.g. Cafe, live performances events as well as physical and digital formats. When music is covered or remixed this doesn't usually count towards the composer or artists music. A one off fee is usually ore arranged first.
The two main companies that deal with royalties are PRS and PPL, They both do different things and its important that we know what each one does.
PRS
PRS (Performing Rights Society) is the company that deals with royalties for performance of music and pays the composers. If you are signed up to PRS you will be on their system and they will pay you your royalties when your music is played on the radio, on TV or at a live show especially when you perform the music. You do not get paid from PRS if your play on other peoples records as a session musician, thats PPL. You are supposed to hand in you set list after a show or upload it to PRS and then they will pay off your royalist accordingly. PRS is very important for musician especially for composers as this is where they can make a good amount of money especially if they have a hit.
PRS Costs £50 to join and this will cover you forever. This has varied over the years and you have to meet a specific criteria to be eligible to join. There are payments in different months throughout the year, April, July, October and December. Payments are only payed once your total has reached over £30 to make PRS time worth while. This was introduced in 2006. I think PRS is a great way to get some money for the music that have written. It is also good because you find out where your music is being played all over the world and you will be paid for that success. By not being signed up to PRS when writing music can be a huge mistake as you could miss out in hundreds of pounds if your track it being listened to by everyone in France. You might not know but by having PRS you would be sent your entitles royalties for the music you have written.
PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited)
PPL is similar to PRS as in it collect royalties but for different people for different roles. PPL collects the royalties for performers who have played on records and broadcasts of recorded music for the musicians playing on that recording. For example if 'Cadburys' used 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins. Every time that advert was played all the musicians on the record would have been paid by PPL if they were signed up to PPL. If you wrote the most famous song ever but you didn't perform on the recording itself you would not receive PPL royalties but you would receive PRS. International broadcasts are accounted for by PPL. The best bit of it its free to join. PPL has really helped musicians and claim the right for music that they have performed on. I think this is a really good royalty because many of the top musicians are session players and they would never see penny if royalties because they would not normally write the music. Now with PPL they will get money for the tracks the play on when they are broadcasted.
MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society)
This company collect the royalties from the sales of recorded music for the copyright owners of the music which can be the writers but also can be 3rd party people who have bought the ownership. If you have publishing deal you will get this done for you and they will collect MCPS. in your early stages of your career this isn't so important compared to PPL and PRS but its good to understand it. You will not got MSCP if you have performed on the record only.
I think its very important to copyright your music and lyrics because there have been so many stories in the past where music has been copied and claimed to be there own and if the music hadn't been copyrighted they would have had legal permission to claim it as their own because they didn't copyright the materials.
You can copyright music my posting the files or in the old days posting the tapes to yourself and then filing this away with a lawyer. This is recognised in the eyes of the law because the time and date will be stamped across the seal of the envelope.
Licensing
Live Music 2003 Act
This act was put in place in 2003 by the government. This act amended the previous laws which were no form of entertainment, dancing, music, singing or open mic nights were allowed without a licence. This changed to a 24/7 license. This was a great shame because it meant that only big venues could put on music and only big artist would be able to perform which was really difficult for up and coming musicians. When the 2003 act was introduced this allowed music and all forms of entertainment to be allowed in all venues but they needed a licence. This licence was very expensive. Little venues running small events couldn't afford to pay the licence therefore could put on live music. This really effected the music industry because it prevented little open mic nights that new musicians could stand up and perform to get their name out.
2012 Act
The 2012 act amended the 2003 act greatly to improve its possibilities for small artists. This act enabled all venues free permission to put on events. There were a few restrictions. You could only have up to 200 people and the event has to take place between 8am and 11pm. This really worked for small venues as they could put on free events. The 11pm curfew was added to prevent people getting too drunk and roudy and causing disruption to neighbours meaning the possibility for police to get involved.
By adding this licence it really helped the music industry because venues could put on a wider range of shows for lots of different genres and give young starting musicians like myself a chance to perform in a good location to a good crowd. The government thought that by allowing more nights where the venues can put on live music they will sell more alcohol which they make a lot of money on because of tax.
This brough money back into the music industry as musician could make some money.
TEN (Tempory Event Notice)
This is the final type of licence that the government introduced. This licence was for small pubs or venues who only wanted to put on events occasionally.
This lisence cost £21 and it allowed them to have 7 days of lisenced entertainmen for up to 500 people. This was good for the pubs or venues who wanted to put on weekend festivals.
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