Paying the PRS what it's due

A licensee friend of mine is having a battle royal with one of the copyright organisations so beloved of licensees the length and breadth of the country.

Yes, it's the Performing Right Society (PRS). Rather in the same league as traffic wardens, I always think. Who would want to go and work for an organisation like that?

Some very nice people, actually, who think they are doing a very good job. Unfortunately, it is the red tape and nit-picking that goes with both activities that makes each of them highly unpopular.

Musical copyright is one of these strange things that exists without existing. It is a legal right, but you cannot actually touch it, until someone publishes a tariff or sends you

a summons.

It is, of course, entirely the same right that Sky and the Premier League enforce when it comes to televised football.

Someone owns the legal rights to perform or produce that work, and you have to pay for the privilege of having it performed in public.

But what if the performer himself is the composer?

It is perfectly true that if someone writes and performs their own material, and you pay them to do that, then the copyright issue is resolved there and then. By agreeing to participate, they have implicitly allowed you to have their music performed to an audience.

The reason for the existence of the PRS is that all the composers and arrangers cannot do that every night in every pub in the land. So they assign their rights to a central organisation to collect the royalties for them instead.

Does the PRS do this by adding up every piece of music played in your premises? You would think not. That is nit-picking to the highest level. So they set a tariff of charges, "agreed" with the trade, to cover the kind of music usually played in pubs.

Remember, though, if you challenge the basis of the way they are charging you, they can and do ask you to provide evidence of your musical use. This could involve you in sending them details of every song played over a period of time, so they can assess your charging level.

This is clearly impossible in retrospect by an ordinary licensee; but the PRS claims that each live music venue ought to be able to obtain a play list from the artists, so they can verify the music usage if demanded.

Unreasonable? They do not think so. It is a brave man that takes them on. Watch this space.