PRS for Music, the organisation that represents over 100,000 music creators in the UK and two million worldwide, today published its financial results for 2013, achieving income of £665.7m, a 3.7% increase on 2012.
The popularity of UK songwriters and composers on the world stage helped to fuel an 11.7% increase in international revenue, with total international royalties breaking the £200m barrier for the first time. Global demand for hit UK television shows, and the prevalence of PRS for Music repertoire across high growth cable television networks, helped to ensure that international royalty revenue provided UK music creators with their single largest source of income from PRS for Music in 2013. PRS for Music members continued to perform well internationally, with Mumford and Sons, Arctic Monkeys and Ellie Goulding enjoying exceptional success.
Across international markets, North America delivered strong (10.7%) growth for PRS for Music members due to the growing cable TV market and internet streaming services. Australia also saw strong growth (18%) thanks to improved deals with local television. Despite the challenging climate in Europe, a strong performance resulted in 15% revenue growth overall. Results in the Asia-Pacific region exceeded expectations across the board with 8.9% growth.
Online revenues reached £61.2m in 2013, an increase of 18.3%. Contributors to this growth were new licences and key licence renewals, such as Deezer and YouTube, and some new mandates. The online market continues to evolve apace, with the increasing transition from downloads to streaming.
Television and radio continues to provide significant income to PRS for Music songwriters and composers. New licensing deals for services such as BT Sport, renewal of key licences such as Sky and strong sales for TV productions using PRS for Music repertoire resulted in revenue of £160.4m, an increase of 4.8%.
In 2013, the challenging retail landscape and the closure of HMV branches contributed to the further decline (21%) of the recorded media market. Despite this decline, the recorded media market still provides significant income of £80.7m.
