Featured Artists Coalition Launches Petition To Stop PRS Foundation Funding Cuts
01 June 2022 - Press releaseThe Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) has launched a petition urging UK collecting society, PRS for Music to reconsider its decision to slash funding to talent development body, PRS Foundation.
At last week’s PRS for Music’s (PRS) Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day, it was announced that PRS would cut the funding which it provides to the foundation by 60% in 2024. Outlining the importance of PRS Foundation’s work, FAC CEO, David Martin has written a piece which is available in full here, outlining why the news is so devastating for the future of UK musical talent.
To highlight the growing calls for a rethink, the FAC has today launched a public petition to allow fans and those across the music industry to demonstrate their support for continued funding of PRS Foundation.
Whilst PRS has cited declining interest rates as part of the reason for the decision, Martin highlights the fact that:
“The £2.5m donation to PRS Foundation in 2021 represents just 0.32% of PRS for Music’s collections, and 0.37% of distributions to members according to the society’s 2021 reporting. A £1m donation would represent 0.13% of collections and 0.15% of distributions at 2021 levels. Should the collecting society reach its £1bn target [for collections], a £1m donation to PRS Foundation represents a mere 0.1% of collections.
The [PRS for Music Annual Transparency] report includes ‘amounts invoiced and collected but not attributed’ of a massive £235m and ‘delayed distributions’ including for ‘data issues’ of over £20m. In other countries, monies collected by societies, which are not able to be attributed to the society’s members are used to fund new talent initiatives. That is not how PRS distributes such funds, although it's not particularly clear how those funds are distributed.”
PRS Foundation has funded 8100 new music initiatives since its launch with its awardees going on to be nominated and win accolades including Grammys, BRITs, MOBOs and Mercury Prizes. With grantees including Wolf Alice, Dave, Little Simz, Floating Points, Sam Fender and Anna Meredith amongst many more.
The petition is available to sign here.
David Martin, CEO, FAC said: “This decision seems to have come at the worst possible time. With a difficult post-pandemic landscape, new barriers to touring in Europe and the crippling effect of a cost-of-living crisis, with its knock-on impact for touring costs and consumer confidence, it’s hard to reconcile the decision to cut funding with what our sector actually needs to get back on its feet. It’s hard to overstate; we really are facing the most difficult time for our artists and songwriters in a generation, and we are at real risk of the UK ceding its status as a global, music powerhouse.”
About the FAC: The FAC is the UK trade body representing the specific rights and interests of music artists. We are a not-for-profit organisation, serving a diverse, global membership of creators at all stages of their careers. The FAC is formed by artists, for artists, and we place this ethos at the centre of all we do. We are an inclusive community that advocates, educates, collaborates and researches on behalf of artists, coming together to provide a strong, collective voice within the industry and to governments domestically and abroad.
Having been formed in 2009 by pioneering artists including Billy Bragg, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Annie Lennox and Pink Floyd's Nick Mason. The FAC's Board of Directors represents some of the most recognised names in the music world with the likes of Everything Everything's Jeremy Pritchard, Imogen Heap, Katie Melua, Wolf Alice’s Joff Oddie, Howard Jones, Aluna Francis (AlunaGeorge) and Blur's David Rowntree as the organisation's Artist in Residence.
www.thefac.org
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