IMPROVING SERVICE STANDARDS AND INCREASING COPYRIGHT TRANSPARENCY

We are pleased to announce improvements to our copyright service standards and web functions. The changes will ensure more of your active works are processed for distribution and will provide clearer information about updates happening to active works.  

Value thresholds
Value thresholds form part of our service standards. Many works are matched and processed automatically without the need for intervention. However, where manual copyright work is required, a minimum royalty threshold needs to be met before we carry out any updates or merges relating to work entries.  

We are pleased to announce that from April 2013, the value thresholds for PRS distributions have been reduced from €20 to €5. The value of thresholds for MCPS broadcast distributions have been halved  from €10 to €5. These reductions mean a greater number of works will reach the required threshold for any necessary manual updates to be processed . View our service standards and information about value thresholds.

Understanding if your work is active
From 6 June 2013, new 'active case indicators' will be introduced to the 'work screen' of the 'search our database' function on the PRS for Music website (see diagram 1 below).

These indicators show if the work is being investigated by our copyright team due to recent reported activity (for example consolidation of any 'possible match' entries). Only works that require manual intervention by our copyright team and have reached (or exceeded) the new value thresholds will have an 'active case indicator' applied.  The indicator will no longer appear once work on an active case is completed.

'Activity' in this context refers to any recently reported usage detail supplied to PRS for Music. The type of reported usage will determine which of the four indicators are displayed on the 'work detail' screen (mechanical, broadcast, performance or online).

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Distributed royalties

The field headings 'MCPS active' and 'PRS active' in the work details screen will be changing to 'MCPS - previously distributed' and 'PRS - previously distributed' (see diagram 2 below). The changes are being implemented to ensure members can still access information about previously active works and distinguish these from works that require copyright attention. These fields will show royalties previously distributed for the usage of a particular work. MCPS and PRS 'last distribution' fields will detail the last known distribution. Information about distribution timescales and cut off dates can be found here

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As a result of the changes, from the 6 June, Member Services will no longer be accepting any manual merge or update requests. Please only contact Member Services if you believe there is a work that has not been matched correctly or if you believe that a work has an active case indicator that has not been removed in time for a distribution.