While the Performing Right Society (PRS for Music) continues to face mounting criticism over its royalty distribution practices, a recent ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal has rejected a class action lawsuit against the organization, marking a significant development in the ongoing dispute between songwriters and their collecting society.
The Tribunal cited a lack of evidence for competition law infringement and determined the case had no reasonable prospect of success, noting the peculiar situation where the class was “effectively suing itself” since any damages would likely be funded from diverted royalties.
The claim essentially backfired as members would ultimately pay damages to themselves from their own royalty pool.
This legal setback for claimants follows a similar dismissal of drummer Dave Rowntree’s lawsuit over ‘black box’ royalties, with courts consistently suggesting that internal mechanisms within PRS represent more appropriate channels for addressing member concerns. The Tribunal criticized Rowntree’s claim as fundamentally flawed and misrepresentative of how PRS actually operates.
Nevertheless, the organization now faces unprecedented public criticism from eighteen high-profile UK songwriters, including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Thom Yorke, who collectively question PRS’s administrative costs and transparency in an open letter demanding clearer methodologies for income distribution.
At the heart of the dispute lies allegations of dramatic fee disparities, with claimants asserting that PRS’s Major Live Concert Service charges just 0.2% administration fees for its beneficiaries compared to 23% for the wider membership—a difference of 115 times.
Critics argue this effectively means less successful writers are subsidizing the most profitable ones, a situation they claim has persisted for nearly three decades.
The controversy extends to royalty tracking practices, with musicians alleging millions in missing payments from over 100,000 UK performances due to untracked setlists. For musicians seeking to maximize their earnings, proper tracking and collection of sync licensing fees remains one of the most lucrative revenue opportunities when their music is used in visual media. The situation highlights the critical importance of proper rights management for music creators seeking to monetize their works effectively through collecting societies like PRS. The Guardian has reported that PRS holds approximately £2.7 million in unclaimed funds for 2019 alone. PRS, which maintains a near-monopoly on performing rights administration in the UK, has pledged to “vigorously defend” against all allegations of mismanagement.
As the US Copyright Office launches its own investigation into performing rights organizations’ operations, the dispute underscores growing frustration among mid-tier and independent songwriters, raising fundamental questions about whether collective management systems still serve their founding principles of equitable compensation for musical creators.
