For over 20 years PRS for Music has received information about the music used in TV commercials from Clearcast (formerly the British Advertising Clearance Centre). Clearcast consolidates information about the music used in TV commercials on behalf of the UK broadcasters based on the reporting it receives from UK advertising agencies.
A recent member query has resulted in a review of the information supplied by Clearcast. Analysis has revealed that since January 2006 a number of commercials that have been broadcast on national television channels were wrongly reported as containing no music. We are, therefore, inviting our members to check the list of commercials misreported and claim for any royalties due to them.
If you identify a commercial for which your music was used you should complete the member information and work cue information columns on the list along with a tunecode and writer/publisher details.
Download the list of commercials misreported
The claim should then be submitted to:
publisherquery@prsformusic.com
or
writerquery@prsformusic.com
On receipt we will process your claim and monies will be paid into the next available PRS for Music Distribution. Any claims received before 31st October 2009, we aim to pay in the December distribution. Subsequent claims will be paid in future distributions.
Please note that should a duplicate claim be received from more than one member for the same commercial all parties will be required to supply proof of usage in the form of a contract with the advertising agency.
Since the under reporting was first identified PRS for Music has been working closely with Clearcast to provide advertising agencies with our requirements for music reporting. Both Clearcast and PRS for Music have also introduced new procedures to check the accuracy and completeness of music reporting for commercials.
We are confident that the necessary steps have been taken to rectify this matter and would like to apologise to those PRS for Music members that have been affected.