Reporting live performances
Did you know you can earn royalties when your music is performed live?
Whether it’s one of your own gigs, a festival or even a DJ set, live performances of your music can earn you money in the UK and around the world.
Simply follow these three steps:
- Log into the portal
- Tell us when and where the performance took place
- Build and submit your setlist
Once you’ve created your setlist, you can reuse or update it to make reporting your future live performances even easier.
You can backdate live performance claims, but please be aware that there are deadlines when it comes to accepting your setlist submissions:
- Small venues that are part of our Gigs and Clubs scheme: no more than one year ago
- International and larger UK live shows: no more than three years ago
Frequently asked questions
Small venues and gigs
If members play at a small licensed venue that is licensed under our Gigs and Clubs scheme, we pay a set royalty for each reported event. This is shared between all PRS writers whose work is performed at the event.
Busking
Buskers who perform in the designated areas within London Underground stations, need to report each performance to receive a royalty fee for each busking session.
In accordance with our Busking Scheme rules, please remember that it is essential you submit claims for any covers you perform, as well as your own music. We will actively monitor performance reporting in the future to ensure the claims we receive adhere to these rules.
Popular concerts
Venues are charged a proportion of gross box office receipts, which we then divide to give each work a value for the number of seconds that it was performed.
Classical concerts
Each year, venues pay a fixed rate, or a variable rate that is based on the amount of copyright music being performed.
Festivals
Royalty rates can be a combination of those we use for classical and popular concerts.
Live concert service
For very large live events, our tailored live concert service offers a fixed admin cost and faster payment.
Covers bands
We use the sample method of royalty collection for covers bands, where their repertoire is often limited to a specific set of songs that's often repeated. The royalties are not paid to the performers but to the writers of the songs being performed.
If you are a PRS member we strongly encourage you to report all live performances of your music to us as soon as possible. To be eligible for royalties you need to make sure:
- You were a PRS member at the time of performance*
- You’re reporting a performance within the right timeframe
- Your music was played live (e.g. the broadcast of recorded music wouldn’t qualify as a live performance)
*Depending on which half of the year your application was processed in, we consider you to have been a member from 1 January or 1 July of the year you joined.
It is possible for you to administer your live performances of your own works.
