"John Rumm" wrote in message
et...
Peter Parry wrote:

So to ask the question again -:-

How much of each pound collected goes to running the PRS?
Of the remainder how much goes to already wealthy established
performers and how much to the majority at the bottom of the pile?

Does anyone know?

I don't know if it was the PRS, but I recall reading once that one of the
collection agencies actually distributed money to the performers not based
on their individual plays etc, but based on the overall relative
popularity of the artist in their list of members. Hence the Madonna's of
the world would get the lions share of the money collected by the agency
for plays of music recorded by up and coming new artists.

--
Cheers,

John.

Interestingly, I asked my friend who owns a guitar / amplification shop, and
is a muso himself, what he knew about the way PRS funds were distributed to
artists, and he pretty much said exactly what you are saying there, viz that
the amounts paid are more a popularity contest, than directly related to
actual airplays, based on the playlists that radio stations are obliged to
submit.

He has a license from the PRS to use copyrighted music in his shop, which he
does for demonstration purposes only. However, he freely admits - and bear
in mind that he is a musician himself - that he does not agree that he
*should* have to have a license for the very limited use that he is making
of this material, and that the main reason for having, and displaying said
license, is as a show of solidarity with his fellow musicians.

Arfa