Annual message from your CEO

Andrea Czapary Martin lays out your society's ambitions for the future, including becoming a billion-pound organisation by 2026.

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting the virtual PRS Annual General Meeting (AGM) where we heard from members, updated you on our work, shared plans for the future and made appointments to the Members’ Council. If you missed it, don’t worry, you can watch the AGM highlights or read on to find out more.

Next month marks two years since I joined PRS. To date, it has certainly been a very different experience from what I had anticipated, I definitely wanted to spend more face time with members hearing your views.

Despite the challenging circumstances we have all found ourselves in, my dedication to ensuring the delivery of our core functions to the highest standards has remained. This is what I call, being 'brilliant at the basics'.

‘The basics' of course, includes ensuring your royalties are paid to you quickly, accurately, and as efficiently as possible. Which is why I was delighted last month to announce that we paid out record royalties in 2020, nearly £700 million and in the most challenging of years. We know how important payments have been over the last year for many of you and I saw first-hand PRS staff’s determination to protect the livelihoods of members. This dedication will continue.

‘New normal’ leads to new vision’

I think it’s really important to acknowledge that just because we have existed for over a hundred years it doesn’t mean we have some divine right to go on doing so. Every day we must consistently earn the right, and privilege, to represent your works. With that in mind, I was excited to present at the AGM a redefined purpose for PRS, underpinned by an ambitious 5-year plan of transformation.

‘To grow and protect the value of music rights entrusted to us.’

At the heart of our renewed purpose, is you, our members and the works which you entrust to us.

We will deliver this purpose by:

• Negotiating the best commercial terms
• Diligently protecting your rights
• Paying your royalties with transparency and efficiency
• Ensuring more money is returned to you through our rigorous financial discipline

To secure our renewed purpose we need a new vision. This will include:

• Cementing PRS for Music’s place as a world leading rights management organisation
• Become a billion-pound organisation in royalties paid out, not just in revenues
• Become the most efficient rights management organisation in the world by reducing our cost-to-income ratio to be below 10%. This would mean that less than 10% of income would be spent on our costs

To achieve this, we commit to being pioneers, constantly rethinking how we work and the opportunities which emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence or machine learning, offer to improving our services. We will tackle head-on the challenges of the digital and tech market by opposing those who seek to weaken your rights, challenge services which build their business on giving your works away for free and securing a market where the full value of the song and composition is properly respected and paid.

‘A community of successes’

Over the last year music has been a shining light in our darkest moments, providing comfort, relief, and entertainment in an uncertain world. Where, when and how we listen to music may have changed but its power remains. At a time when music has arguably never been more important, I can only express my whole-hearted admiration at the way in which members adapted and remained so creative.

In times of change and uncertainty, the communities around us become more important than ever. I look forward to working alongside you in building and bolstering our community, a community of which you are proud and want to be part of.

Andrea Czapary Martin
CEO
PRS for Music