There was recently a positive development for live music, when PRS announced that, following their consultation of 2010, there will be no change to the Tariffs for ticketed music events.

The Live Music Forum campaigned vociferously against the proposed 8-10% hike in PRS fees and this looks to be one occasion when performers objections were heard and heeded. PRS said, "We received 53 responses, seven of which were from representative organisations spanning the breadth of the live music industry.".

The full announcement and supporting documents appear here,

http://www.prsformusic.com/users/businessesandliveevents/musicforbusinesses/customerconsultation/Pages/TicketedPopularMusicEvents.aspx

The summary document makes interesting reading, reaching some slightly surprising conclusions. For example it suggests that musicians performing live music earn "much more" than the composers. "Respondents said that a scarcity of talent was still driving artist costs upwards. With the ability to significantly enhance their earnings, artists are more willing to play live than before. Figures provided by respondents suggested that, on average, a performer earns much more than the songwriters and publishers for the performance of their work."

On the other hand, jobbing musicians have considerably more expenses, for one thing, and it is not realistic to make direct comparisons of the earnings of the two professions based on the percentage of door take collected by PRS or PPL.

Maybe I shouldn't be complaining considering we got what we wanted.

Keep Live Music

Phil Little
Live Music Forum