ICE update

Here is the progress we have made so far this year:

System Stabilisation

In January, the ICE system performance was reviewed with the Operations Group (a cross section of publisher representatives), where a sample of specific errors dating back to 1 September 2010 was investigated to understand the cause of:

• Works that have gone straight into dispute without going through the duplicate claim process
• Works that have been incorrectly merged since September 2010
• Work details that changed without an amendment registration being sent by the member
• Works/shares that have been deleted
• Works/shares that have changed status to copyright control
• Works that have had the writer designation changed from PRS member to non-society

A total of 23 errors were submitted. The results showed no errors arising from the system. The highlighted cases were caused by a mixture of human error, incorrect data from our old copyright database or a misunderstanding of policy or process. Clearly 23 examples is no indication of a significant problem, but it does indicate the need to keep a close eye on data quality. We are continuing to work closely with ICE to enhance quality checks and staff training plans.

Ongoing education

Our Publisher Development team and copyright specialists have been holding one-to-one sessions with publishers to understand and assist with their ICE problems and to take them through the registration and validation process. The issues raised are being consolidated and, along with the answers, will be reproduced on the ICE Help Centre internet pages.

These sessions will continue throughout 2011 and beyond if needed. If you have not been invited and you are interested in participating, please email us at: membership@prsformusic.com

Introduction of mandatory agreement numbers

Agreement numbers will be mandatory for publishers from 7 March 2011. The roll out was initially aimed for the end of February. We took slightly longer due to the volume of agreement numbers needed from ICE to send to publishers.

All publishers who submitted more than 20 online registrations in 2010 will have received their ICE agreement numbers. This will ensure that works can be automatically uploaded with no manual intervention. Any registrations submitted up until 7 March without an agreement number will still require manual intervention and we will continue to process these.

Quality checks

A broad range of charts are being monitored by PRS for Music to check that the works within them are set up correctly in ICE. Any discrepancies are fed back to ICE for action and training where relevant. In turn, ICE is developing new quality checks with the aim being that PRS for Music checks reduce over time and are transferred to ICE.

Recruitment in PRS for Music Membership

To improve our services to members, a number of roles are being recruited within the Membership function. These include:

Head of Publisher Development, to lead a team of six Publisher Development Managers that will support key publishers and deliver query resolution, quarterly reviews, distribution analysis and training

Senior Copyright Policy Manager, tasked with refreshing copyright policy, solving complex member issues, leading research projects and assisting ICE development