11 August 2008
MCPS-PRS Alliance half year results – new and established markets drive royalties for music creators
The MCPS-PRS Alliance, which collects and pays music royalties, today announces its half-year results for 2008, worth over £1/4billion in royalties to songwriters, composers and music publishers.
In the first half of 2008, the Alliance collected over £286million for music creators from its customers, including broadcasters, online service providers, record companies and a wide range of other businesses that play music.
What the Alliance earned for music creators for the use of their music Jan-Jun 2008:
| Broadcasters and online service providers |
82.3 |
72.9 |
13 |
155.5 |
| Physical product (eg CDs, DVDs) |
74.7 |
82.3 |
(9) |
151.8 |
| Public Performance (eg pubs, shops) |
70.5 |
64.6 |
9 |
133.6 |
| Usage of music overseas |
58.6 |
51.2 |
14 |
121.2 |
| Total |
286.1 |
271 |
6 |
562.1 |
* please note these figures are unaudited
Income from broadcasting and online sources continues to out-perform that of recorded physical product. Online royalties, although still a small proportion of the overall whole (at £7m), grew significantly by over 40% year-on-year, largely due to the continued growth in the licensed online music market led by iTunes.
Public performance income – the licensing of leisure outlets and work places playing music – was driven by continued strong performance from live pop concerts (up 5.4%) and improved licensing activity.
A strong performance from international revenues has delivered gains from most countries. Top countries using UK music in the first half of 2008 were the USA, Germany, France and Japan.
Income from the licensing of CDs continues to fall (down 15%), in line with the downturn in worldwide sales. Revenues from all physical products, however, were ahead of budget in the first half of 2008 due to effective licensing of other physical formats including DVDs, pre-loaded USB sticks and musical novelties.
The number of transactions processed by the Alliance continues to rise exponentially due in part to the millions of music tracks included on new licensed services such as YouTube. In spite of this, the cost of processing the money collected and of distributing it was pegged at just over 10% of total revenues - one of the lowest in the world.
Chief Executive of the Alliance, Steve Porter, said, ‘We continue to improve our licensing effectiveness in both established areas and in new and emerging business models in order to ensure that all uses of music are accurately and fairly licensed for the benefit of music creators everywhere.
‘We are making inroads into the online market with our groundbreaking licensing deals with iTunes, YouTube and Bebo, with further gains anticipated in the year.
‘The decrease of 15% in CD sales was overturned by innovation and growth in licensing in other areas of the business.’
-Ends-
CONTACTS:
MCPS-PRS Alliance – Adrian Crookes 00 44 (0) 7918 194151
press@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
Brunswick Group LLP – Michelangelo Bendandi 020 7396 5349
mbendandi@brunswickgroup.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The MCPS-PRS Alliance- MCPS and PRS are the not-for-profit UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service. They work together in an operational alliance to get the best value for the music use of composers and songwriters everywhere. www.mcps-prs.com