Privacy Notice

We are PRS for Music Limited. We operate on behalf of the Performing Right Society Limited and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Limited (together referred to as the ‘Societies’). We take data privacy very seriously and this privacy notice is intended to help you understand how we use your personal information.

In this privacy notice ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘us’ means PRS for Music Limited, the Performing Right Society Limited and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Limited, unless stated otherwise.

WHAT'S ON THIS PAGE?

  1. About Us
  2. Who does this Privacy Notice apply to?
  3. What personal information do we collect about you?
  4. Where do we collect personal information about you from?
  5. How do we use your personal information?
  6. Who do we share your personal information with?
  7. How long do we keep your personal information for?
  8. International transfers of personal information
  9. Automated decision making
  10. Other websites
  11. Contacting Us and Your Rights
  12. Your Right to Complain
  13. Changes to this Privacy Notice

About Us

The Performing Right Society

The Performing Right Society Limited (PRS) is one of the world’s leading music collective rights management organisations. PRS represents the rights of songwriters, composers and music publishers (Creators) in the UK and around the world.

PRS for Music Limited operates on behalf of PRS. Together, we ensure Creators are paid whenever their musical works (works) are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public, anywhere across the world (works usage), for more information see here.

PRS directly license works usage in the UK and in some other countries. These include Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, the Bahamas, Bermuda and other territories licensed on a multi territory online licensing basis by ICE (together PRS Managed Territories), for more information see here. Where we do not directly license works usage in a country, we have relationships with a network of overseas collective rights management organisations who collect and distribute royalties which we pay on to the relevant member.

PRS for Music Limited and PRS process your personal information together as controllers. This means both organisations are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable data protection laws when processing your personal information.

The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society

PRS for Music Limited and PRS also provide rights management and administrative services to the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Limited (MCPS), for more information see here. MCPS ensures its members are paid when its members’ works are copied as physical products, streamed, downloaded, used in TV, film and radio in the UK (works usage). MCPS license the works usage of MCPS members in the UK and have relationships with a network of overseas collective rights management organisations who collect and distribute royalties which MCPS pay on to the relevant member and also directly to members of Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ireland Limited.

On providing services to MCPS, PRS for Music Limited and PRS generally process personal information of MCPS members and licensees as controllers. This privacy notice applies, as relevant, to where PRS for Music Limited and PRS act as controllers with MCPS.

Who does this Privacy Notice apply to?

This privacy notice applies to you if:

  • PRS/MCPS Member – you are: (i) a member of PRS and or MCPS (including a successor member), (ii) a person nominated to receive royalty payments for a member of PRS and or MCPS, (iii) an applicant for membership or potential member of PRS and/or MCPS, (iv) a former member of PRS and/or MCPS, or (v) a member of MCPS Ireland
  • Representative – you are, or you represent (e.g as an employee of), an organisation which is an authorised representative of a PRS/MCPS Member or potential PRS/MCPS Members
  • Emerging Talent Programme – you are part of, or a potential future participant in, the PRS emerging talent programme (relevant to members and non-members)
  • Licensee – you are, or you represent (e.g as an employee of), a potential, current or former licensee of PRS and/or MCPS (including licence arrangements entered into by an agent of PRS and/or MCPS, e.g PPL PRS Limited)
  • Non-PRS/MCPS Member – (i) you are not a PRS/MCPS Member, but your work is used in any of the PRS Managed Territories; or (ii) your work is associated with PRS/MCPS Members
  • Performer – if you perform or make a recording of a work: (i) associated with a PRS/MCPS Member, or (ii) that is used in any of the PRS Managed Territories (even where the work is not connected to a PRS/MCPS Member)
  • Rights Protection Investigation and Enforcement – you are connected to an investigation about potential unauthorised works usage
  • Marketing, Surveys, Competitions and Online Content – you: (i) receive our marketing, (ii) complete surveys, (iii) enter a competition (or a competition we have sponsored), or (iv) appear in our online content (including social media pages)
  • Visitor to our Website, including user of our online services – you use our website, our mobile app or any of our online services (e.g the PRS member portal, MAPS, Core Data Web Service, Product Nexus and Search Works tool)
  • Events or Office Visitor – you visit our offices or attend events we organise or participate in
  • Third Party Relationship – you are, or you represent (e.g as an employee of), one of our suppliers, business partners or any other organisations we engage with (For our contractor notice, please contact us directly)

What personal information do we collect about you?

The personal information we may collect about you will vary depending on how you interact and engage with us.

Type of Data Subject Types of personal information may include
PRS/MCPS Member
  • your name (and pseudonyms) and contact details
  • repertoire records and membership details (including IPI/CAE number, membership category and voting rights)
  • works usage information and royalty distribution records
  • application forms (including documents supporting your application, e.g proof of identity and eligibility)
  • identity check information
  • bank details and tax residency details (e.g to facilitate royalty payments)
  • diversity information
  • career progression
  • health information
  • correspondence with us
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
    		•
    Representative
  • your name, contact details and relationship with the individual you represent
  • bank details (as appropriate)
  • correspondence with us
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
    		•
    Emerging Talent Programme
  • your name and contact details (for non-members, where publicly available)
  • career progression, including use of your work (e.g featured in radio playlists), industry awards and names of grants awarded (including by the PRS Foundation)
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
    		•
    Licensee
  • your name and contact details
  • bank details (as appropriate)
  • licensing application information
  • correspondence with us
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
    		•
    Non-PRS/MCPS Member
  • your name (and/or pseudonym) and the collective rights management organisation you belong to (as applicable)
  • repertoire records
  • works usage and royalty distribution information, where there has been use in PRS Managed Territories or in locations where collective rights management organisations, that we provide services to, operate
    		•
    Performer
  • your name (and pseudonyms)
  • details of works performed and or recorded (e.g type of works usage, details of performance, location, volume of works usage, recording information – in order to facilitate royalty payments to PRS/MCPS Members and Non-PRS/MCPS Members)
    		•
    Rights Protection Investigation and Enforcement
  • name and contact details
  • identity information (including image)
  • information about infringing actions
    • Marketing, Surveys, Competitions and Online Content
  • your name and contact details
  • organisation you are affiliated with
  • information provided as part of completing a survey or competition
  • information prepared for online content (e.g an article on M Magazine, our social media pages)
  • images/video/sound recordings
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
    		•
    Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services
  • your name and contact details
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g online chat)
  • information you may choose to provide in interactions with us (e.g survey responses)
  • information about your use of our website and website services, this may include:
    - access and usage information (e.g IP address, log in details, access logs, search request activities
    - details about how you interact with our webpages (e.g time spent on content)
    - information collected by cookies, please see our cookie policy for further details about this
    		•
    Events or Office Visitor
  • your name and contact details
  • organisation you are affiliated with
  • dietary requirements
  • images/video/sound recordings
  • recordings of communications with you (e.g calls)
  • accessibility requirements
    		•
    Third Party Relationship
  • your name and contact details
  • organisation you are affiliated with
  • any correspondence with us
    		•

    Where do we collect personal information about you from?

    We collect information about you from either yourself or the following sources:

    • Representatives
    • our Affiliates and PRS for Music connected organisations (see Who do we share your personal information with?)
    • overseas collective rights management organisations and organisations providing services to these organisations (e.g the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC))
    • licensees, licensee agents, industry organisations, performance venues and organisations providing works and works usage related information (e.g Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL – a recorded music royalty collection organisation), Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB - an audience measurement organisation))
    • industry bodies and agencies to have complete works records and obtain industry standard codes (e.g CISAC, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI))
    • publishers (of works)
    • credit reference agencies, background check providers and or your bank who may carry out checks for us prior to approval of an application for membership or a licence, for identity verification, fraud prevention, credit control purposes and or audit purposes
    • publicly available information, trade bodies and or suppliers (who use central registers, their own databases, credit reference agencies and data brokers) to:
      • verify, maintain and update our records (e.g contact details, gender)
      • obtain contact details (e.g to contact individuals who may require a licence to use works we represent)
    • publicly available information (e.g press articles, works usage information, website publicity and social media) in relation to:
      • career progression
      • infringement investigations
    • business partners and subcontractors who assist us in delivering our services to you (e.g payment and delivery services)

    The sources we collect personal information from will be different depending on our relationship with you. Where we obtain your information from a third party, we may ask them to provide you with a copy of this privacy notice so you are aware about how and why we are processing your personal information.

    How do we use your personal information?

    We will only process your personal information where we have a valid reason under data protection law, called a “lawful basis for processing”. We have set out below and throughout this privacy notice the main purposes we process personal information for and the legal bases we use when processing your personal information.

    Depending on how you engage with us, more than one section may apply to you. Please take time to read all sections which are relevant to how you engage with us. For example, if you are a PRS member, a Performer, have an online member account with us and attend an event we host, the following sections would be relevant – “PRS/MCPS Member”, “Performer”, “Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services” and “Events or Office Visitor”.

    • PRS/MCPS Member
    • Representative
    • Emerging Talent Programme
    • Licensee
    • Non-PRS/MCPS Member
    • Performer
    • Rights Protection Enforcement Action
    • Marketing, Surveys, Competitions and Online Content
    • Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online ServicesEvents or Office Visitor
    • Third Party Relationship

    PRS/MCPS Member

    Purpose: Lawful Basis:
    To manage applications to be a PRS/MCPS Member Legitimate Interests:
    to assess applications are appropriately made to be a member of PRS and MCPS

    In addition to the above lawful basis, in the case of the Societies – Contract:
    to take steps to enter into a membership contract, by assessing the application made. 

    Without this information, PRS or MCPS (as applicable) may be unable to progress an application received.

    To verify your identity, for fraud prevention purposes and for anti-money laundering assessment purposes, on assessing an application for membership.

    This may include carrying out checks on your identity using third party registers, databases and credit/background providers.

    Searches carried out with credit reference organisations will only leave a ‘soft footprint’ on your credit file with the provider. This indicates that while there is a record that information has been checked, the check does not have a negative impact on your credit score. For more information, see Who do we share your personal information with? and the category of recipients called "Bank, credit reference organisations and background check providers"

    The checks do not involve the processing of any special categories of personal information or criminal data.

    Legitimate Interests:
    to verify your identity and prevent fraudulent applications

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to verify your identity for anti-money laundering assessment purposes

    To provide membership services

    This may include:

  • maintaining membership records, this may require using external organisations to obtain up to date contact information
  • maintaining records of your repertoire, including ensuring we have industry standard codes for your works and links to associated recordings
  • sharing membership and repertoire information with overseas collective rights management organisations (and service providers to such organisations) to represent your works in their territory and distribute royalties
  • collecting information about works usage and distributing royalty payments
  • managing legal requirements related to making financial payments (i.e royalty distributions), including anti-money laundering obligations
  • providing membership services you request or that may interest you
  • providing access to online services for the purposes of managing your membership, repertoire and royalty information (please see Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal information processed by these services)
  • communicating with you about your membership and the company activities of PRS and MCPS
  • sharing works information with industry organisations to improve and enable the attribution of authorship of works and improve the accuracy of works usage reporting, to support royalty distribution processes
  • representing your works against non-authorised works usage, including by sharing details of works with overseas collective rights management organisations to represent works in their territory, with licensees to verify works usage or ensure an appropriate licence is administered and with law enforcement authorities to take legal action
  • managing queries, complaints and disputes
  • analysing royalty earnings and works usage to consider future earnings and ensure we provide appropriate support
    		•

    Legitimate Interests:
    to provide membership services, including to represent your works and distribute royalties earned, in accordance with our policies, as well as facilitate PRS’s responsibilities to its members (guarantors)

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to meet our anti-money laundering obligations in particular in connection with distributing royalties

    In addition to the above lawful basis, in the case of the Societies – Contract:
    to provide the membership services set out in our agreement with you.

    Without being able to use your personal information for these purposes, PRS or MCPS (as applicable) may be unable to continue your membership

    Health Information – Consent:
    in the course of our interactions, you may voluntarily choose to share health information with us in order to seek support
    PRS Members’ Fund Support
    Where you have contacted PRS Members’ Fund for assistance or support, and provided them with permission to check your membership information, we will enable them to check details of and access information about your membership.    		 Consent:
    at your request, when you have contacted PRS Members’ Fund for assistance or support, we will enable them to check details of and access information about your membership

    To provide membership services to other PRS/MCPS Members and persons connected with your works
    We share repertoire information with PRS/MCPS Members, including on our online services (e.g Search Works, Product Nexus), so that they can manage and check their interests in works.

    We also share limited works information with persons connected to your works so that they can manage and understand their repertoire and distributions. This may include sharing limited details of works with non-PRS/MCPS Members and overseas collective management societies.

    We may share limited details about your works with the public, where we are unable to identify the Creator of a work that has been used, and need to share any details about the works usage we hold.

    Legitimate Interests:
    to ensure persons can check their repertoire interests and Creators also connected to your works have information about their repertoire and distributions

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to publicly share any details we may have about works usage to try to find the rightsholder of a work where we are unable to identify the rightsholder
    Marketing

    Consent:
    to send you marketing communications according to your preferences and (at your request to) share your contact details with PRS Members’ Fund and PRS Foundation

    Postal Communications – Legitimate Interests:
    to send postal communications about matters we think will be of interest, relevance or importance

    Current and Potential Business-to-Business relationships – Legitimate Interests:
    to contact you with marketing (including information on our services and products) that we think may be relevant to your business activities or of interest to you as part of a business relationship or potential business relationship with you
    Surveys – To obtain your feedback and views
    We may, from time to time, contact you for your views and feedback to assist us with research

    Legitimate Interests:
    to obtain information from you to assist with improving our services, products, industry research or discussions and our business activities

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Consent:
    to use the special categories of personal data (e.g health information, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity) for the purposes you agreed to

    To raise and contribute to industry issues, research and discussions
    We use information internally for research purposes related to industry discussions that affect Creators and us.

    We also raise and contribute to industry discussions with external parties, including regarding diversity issues. Where we do so, we first anonymise any personal information (e.g statistics of gender information) before sharing the information with external parties unless we have your consent to act differently.

    Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out research for industry discussions that affect Creators and us.

    We do not share identifiable information with third parties unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Consent, Research, or Equality of Opportunity or Treatment:
    to collect and use special categories of personal data for the purposes of research or for the purposes of monitoring or improving equality of opportunity or treatment.

    We will not share any special categories of personal information with third parties unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with member online services), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To monitor and manage access and use of our online services (e.g Search Works)
    Please see Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal information processed by our online services    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to protect the security and integrity of our systems and manage access
    To manage the responsibilities owed by PRS to you as a member (guarantor) and other members, as well as PRS’s company law obligations
    This includes:
  • legal requests under the Companies Act 2006
  • sharing on request with PRS Members a list of principal voting members with additional votes
  • For ‘Voting’ and ‘Principal Voting’ members of PRS (in relation to elections) – sharing your postal address with candidates standing for a Members’ Council position (director) at PRS so candidates can contact you independently with canvassing materials. With your consent, we will share your email address for the same purpose
  • For ‘Principal Voting’ members of PRS supporting the nomination of an individual standing for election to the Members’ Council–- sharing your name and email address with voting members
    		•

    Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out the obligations owed to PRS members (as guarantors)

    Email address for canvassing – Consent:
    to share your email address with candidates for canvassing purposes

    In addition to the above lawful bases, in the case of PRS - Contract and Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to fulfil its contract with you and its statutory obligations for managing its company law obligations
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal (including infringing) activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities

    Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Establishment, Exercise or Defence of Legal Claims:
    to process special categories of personal data for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending a legal claim
    To conduct marketing using social media third-party websites
    Where you have given consent, we share your email addresses with third party social media websites (e.g Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to request, if they have an account connected with your email address, that a PRS specified post is displayed to you (known as ‘custom audience’)

    Consent:
    to use your details for marketing on social media platforms.

    If you do not want this to happen, you can either change your settings directly on the social media website or inform our Membership team.

    Representative

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To manage our relationship with you as the representative of a PRS/MCPS Member
    This may include:
  • correspondence with you on behalf of the member
  • providing access to online accounts of the PRS/MCPS Member (please see
    Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal information processed by these services)
  • for member account management purposes, for example allowing the relevant PRS/MCPS Member, or their appointed administrators, to access and manage your information 
  • managing legal requirements related to making financial payments (i.e in connection with royalty payments), including anti-money laundering obligations
    		•  Legitimate Interests:
    to manage our relationship with you as the authorised representative of a PRS/MCPS Member and for member account management purposes
    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to meet our anti-money laundering obligations in connection with distributing royalties
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with an online account), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To manage and monitor access and use of our online services (e.g Search Works)
    Please see Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal information processed by our online services    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to protect the security and integrity of our systems and manage access
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority
    Marketing Consent:
    to send you marketing communications according to your preferences and (at your request to) share your contact details with PRS Members’ Fund and PRS Foundation

    Postal Communications – Legitimate Interests:
    to send postal communications about matters we think will be of interest, relevance or importance 

    Current and Potential Business-to-Business relationships – Legitimate Interests:
    to contact you with marketing (including information on our services and products) that we think may be relevant to your business activities or of interest to you as part of a business relationship with you as a representative of a PRS/MCPS Member or potential PRS/MCPS Member
    To conduct marketing using social media third-party websites
    Where you have given consent, we share email addresses with third party social media websites (e.g Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to request that, if they have an account connected with your email address, a PRS specified post is displayed to you (known as ‘custom audience’)    		 Consent:
    to use your details for marketing on social media platforms

    If you do not want this to happen, you can either change your settings directly on the social media website or inform our Membership team

    Emerging Talent Programme

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To offer support to emerging creators as part of our Emerging Talent Programme and monitor the career progression of emerging creators eligible for PRS membership that may be future programme participants
    This may include:
  • considering information regarding your career progression, works usage, industry awards and grants awarded in order to assess your potential future growth and the support we may be able to offer
  • contacting you directly to offer tailored support
    		•

    Legitimate Interests: 
    of supporting emerging creators in the industry

    Licensee

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To manage licence applications Legitimate interests:
    to assess applications are appropriately made to be a licensee, including identity verification and fraud prevention assessments

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to verify your identity for anti-money laundering assessment purposes

    In addition to the above lawful basis, in the case of the Societies – Contract:
    to take steps to enter into the licence agreement, by assessing the licence application 

    Without this information, PRS or MCPS (as applicable) may be unable to progress the licence application 
    To maintain and administer our licence with you Legitimate Interests:
    to manage the licence arrangement, and protect and administer the rights of the Societies’ members

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to meet our anti-money laundering obligations in connection with managing payments

    In addition to the above lawful basis, in the case of the Societies – Contract:
    to fulfil our licence agreement with you

    Without being able to use your personal information for these purposes, the Societies may be unable to continue the licence
    To communicate about licence arrangements required to use works we represent

    This may include corresponding with you (as a potential licensee), based on your type of business (e.g DJ, fitness instructor), where we consider you require a licence to lawfully use the musical works we represent.    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to communicate about a licence required to use the works we represent, based on our understanding of your use of works
    To communicate with you as the representative (e.g employee) of a licensee regarding the administration of the licence Legitimate Interests:
    to communicate and work with you to manage the licence in place with the organisation you represent
    Marketing

    Consent:
    to send you marketing communications according to your preferences

    Postal Communications – Legitimate Interests:
    to send postal communications about matters we think will be of interest, relevance or importance 

    Current and Potential Business-to-Business relationships – Legitimate Interests:
    to contact you with marketing (including information on licences and our services) that we think may be relevant to your business activities or of interest to you as part of a business relationship or potential business relationship with you

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Publicly Available Information:
    to process special categories of personal data (e.g your religious beliefs) for marketing purposes where you have manifestly made such data publicly available
    Surveys – To obtain your feedback and views
    We may, from time to time, contact you for your views and feedback to assist us with research    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to ensure we can obtain feedback from you to assist with improving our services, products, industry research or discussions and our business activities

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Consent:
    to use special categories of personal data (e.g health information, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity) for the purposes you agreed to
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities (including licence tariffs) using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with Web Services), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To manage and monitor access and use of our online services (e.g Web Services)
    Please see Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal data processed by our online services    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to protect the security and integrity of our systems and manage access
    To raise and contribute to industry issues, research and discussions
    We use information internally for research purposes related to industry discussions that affect Creators and us
    We also raise and contribute to industry discussions with external parties, including regarding diversity issues. Where we do so, we first anonymise any personal information (e.g statistics) before sharing the information with external parties unless we have your consent to act differently    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out research for industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We do not share identifiable information with third parties, unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal (including infringing) activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal (including infringing) activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Non-PRS/MCPS Member

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To administer and facilitate royalty distributions to your collective rights management organisation
    This may include:
  • maintaining records of your repertoire
  • collecting information about use of your works and distributing royalty payments and information to your collective rights management organisation
  • sharing works information with industry organisations to improve and enable the attribution of authorship of works and improve the accuracy of works usage reporting, to support royalty distribution processes
  • representing your works against non-authorised works usage, including by sharing details of works with licensees to verify works usage or ensure an appropriate licence is administered and with law enforcement authorities to take legal action
    		•

    Legitimate Interests:
    to process information in order to represent your works in PRS Managed Territories and distribute royalties earned in accordance with our policies

    to assist your collective rights management organisation to distribute royalties in accordance with its policies
    To administer the royalty rights of others connected with your works
    We share repertoire information with PRS/MCPS Members to help them manage and check their interests in works

    We also share limited works information with persons connected to your works so that they can manage and understand their repertoire and distributions. This may include sharing limited details of works with PRS/MCPS Members and non-PRS/MCPS Members as well as overseas collective management societies

    We may share limited details about your works with the public, where we are unable to identify the Creator of a work that has been used, and need to share any details about the use we hold    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to ensure persons can check their repertoire interests and Creators also connected to your works have information about their repertoire and distributions

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to publicly share any details we may have about works usage to try to find the rightsholder where we are unable to identify the rightsholder of a work
    To raise and contribute to industry issues, research and discussions
    We use information internally for research purposes related to industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We also raise and contribute to industry discussions with external parties, including regarding diversity issues. Where we do so, we first anonymise any personal information (e.g statistics) before sharing the information with external parties unless we have your consent to act differently    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out research for industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We do not share identifiable information with third parties, unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Performer

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To manage the royalty rights of persons connected to a work you have performed or recorded
    This may include sharing limited details about your performances or recordings of works with:
  • PRS/MCPS Members, Non-PRS/MCPS Members and overseas collective rights management organisations to better understand works usage of works you have performed or recorded
  • Licensees to facilitate more accurate reporting of works usage
  • industry organisations to improve and enable the attribution of authorship of works and improve the accuracy of works usage reporting, to support royalty distribution processes
  • the public, where we are unable to identify the creator of a work you have performed or recorded, and need to share any details about the use we hold
  • law enforcement authorities where we find unauthorised works usage
    		•  Legitimate Interests:
    to ensure persons connected to works performed or recorded understand use of their works, to facilitate better information in the industry to maintain appropriate repertoire records and obtain more accurate works usage information to facilitate royalty payments, and to represent and protect unauthorised works usage

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to publicly share any details we may have about works usage to try to find the rightsholder of a work where we are unable to identify the rightsholder
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To raise and contribute to industry issues, research and discussions
    We use information internally for research purposes related to industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We also raise and contribute to industry discussions with external parties, including regarding diversity issues. Where we do so, we first anonymise any personal information (e.g statistics) before sharing the information with external parties unless we have your consent to act differently    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out research for industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We do not share identifiable information with third parties unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities 

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Rights Protection Enforcement Action

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To prevent, investigate and detect unauthorised works usage and take appropriate (including legal) action
    This includes collecting evidence about unauthorised works usage and identifying persons involved    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to investigate potential unauthorised works usage and take appropriate (including legal) action against such activities

    Marketing, Surveys, Competitions and Online Content

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    Marketing

    Consent:
    to send you marketing communications according to your preferences

    Postal Communications – Legitimate Interests:
    to send postal communications about matters we think will be of interest, relevance or importance and where we consider there is a legitimate interest

    Business-to-Business relationship – Legitimate Interests:
    to send you marketing communications that we think will be of interest to you as part of our business relationship
    Competitions – To facilitate and manage the competition Legitimate Interests:
    to facilitate and manage a competition you have entered

    In addition to the above lawful basis – Contract and Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to perform the Competition’s terms and conditions, and to comply with our legal obligations on running a competition (e.g the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing “the CAP Code” requires details of winners to be made available)
    Surveys – To obtain your feedback and views
    We may, from time to time, contact you for your views and feedback to assist us with research    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to ensure we can obtain feedback from you to assist with improving our services, products, industry research or discussions and our business activities

    Special Categories of Personal Data – Consent:
    to use special categories of personal data (e.g health information, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity) for the purpose you agreed to
    Online Content
    To prepare content for our online platforms (including social media pages) and publish articles on our website (e.g as part of M Magazine)    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to publish content of interest to our members and the industry, and about issues of importance to us
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with our marketing communications), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To raise and contribute to industry issues, research and discussions
    We use information internally for research purposes related to industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We also raise and contribute to industry discussions with external parties, including regarding diversity issues. Where we do so, we first anonymise any personal information (e.g statistics) before sharing the information with external parties unless we have your consent to act differently    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to carry out research for industry discussions that affect Creators and us

    We do not share identifiable information with third parties, unless we have your consent. We may share anonymised information (e.g statistics)
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities 

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with Web Services), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To manage and monitor access and use of our online services (e.g Web Services, Product Nexus)
    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to protect the security and integrity of our systems and manage access
    Use information from cookies and similar technologies

    We use a limited number of cookies (and similar technologies) on our website to assist the functioning of our website and understand how our website is being used. In particular, we use Google Analytics, this provides de-identified information about how the site is being used. Google Analytics does this by placing cookies on your device

    You can control cookies through the preferences on your browser, and by dedicated browser extensions or add-ons. Please see our Cookie policy for more details on the cookies and tracking technologies we use and the purposes for which we use them

    We do not look to collect special categories of personal information and criminal convictions data from this processing    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to understand our relationship with you and improve future communications and our services

    In some cases we will ask for consent to place cookies, in which case our legal basis is Consent.
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    We may be under a legal obligation to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Events or Office Visitor

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To ensure the security, safety and accessibility of our premises and events (including by use of CCTV, access records and facilitating attendance requirements)
    At our offices, we have security measures that include CCTV and access records. We require limited details about visitors to our offices to facilitate access, for safety purposes (e.g office capacity records) and security purposes

    Images captured by CCTV are securely stored and only accessed when required. They are retained for a limited period of time

    At events, we may have security and safety measures in place to ensure appropriate access and to facilitate requirements of guests (e.g accessibility or dietary requirements)

    Apart from as stated in this section, we are not intending to collect special categories of personal information and criminal conviction information    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to facilitate access and ensure the safety, security and accessibility of our premises and events for all persons that work with us and visit us

    Health Information – Consent and in limited cases Vital Interests:
    to process health information to provide dietary requirements and accessibility needs
    Images/Videos/Sound recordings at Events
    We may take images, videos and sound recordings at events we host or are involved in for publicity and publicity purposes    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to use photos and videos from our events for promotional and publicity purposes

    Please contact the events organiser if you do not wish for us to use your image, video or sound recording
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations:
    to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Third Party Relationship

    Purpose Lawful Basis
    To maintain and administer our relationship with you Legitimate interests:
    to manage our relationship with you, including any pre-contract negotiations 

    In addition to the above lawful basis – Contract:
    to take steps to enter into a contract with you and to fulfil our agreement with you

    Without being able to use your personal information for these purposes, we (as applicable) may be unable to continue the contract
    To correspond with you as the representative (e.g employee) of a third party we work with Legitimate Interests:
    to communicate and work with you on behalf of the organisation providing services to us
    To test, monitor and analyse data, products, content, functionality, services and website Legitimate Interests:
    to run appropriate testing of potential and existing activities using information we hold, to understand engagement with us (e.g how a user interacts with Product Nexus), to improve and assess our activities and to analyse information to inform business improvements, plans and activities
    To manage and monitor access and use of our online services (e.g Web Services, Product Nexus)
    Please see Visitor to our Website, including user of our Online Services for more information about personal information processed by our online services    		 Legitimate Interests:
    to protect the security and integrity of our systems and manage access
    To prevent, investigate and take action against illegal activities and to comply with information requests from law enforcement or Governmental authorities

    Legitimate Interests:
    to prevent, investigate and take action against potential illegal activities and comply with law enforcement or Governmental authorities requesting information in relation to potential illegal activities

    Compliance with Legal Obligations: to provide information to a law enforcement or Governmental authority

    Who do we share your personal information with?

    We do not sell your personal information however we do share your personal information with the following categories of recipients.

    Categories of Recipients Overview of Data Sharing
    PRS for Music Limited, PRS and MCPS Where we process your personal information for purposes together as controllers, we may between us share your personal information
    Our ‘Affiliates’ including ICE (International Copyright Enterprise Services Limited and ICE International Copyright Enterprise Germany GmbH, providing membership and licensing services), and PPL PRS Limited (providing licensing services) and the Network of Music Partners A/S (NMP, providing usage, works and recording information) We may share your personal information in connection with membership services and licensing of works
    PRS for Music connected organisations

    PRS Members’ Fund –

    Where you have contacted PRS Members’ Fund for assistance or support and provided them with permission to check your membership information we will enable them to check details of and access information about your membership

    PRS Members’ Fund and PRS Foundation –

    With your consent, we may share your member contact details with these organisations for marketing purposes
    Overseas collective rights management organisations (and service providers to such organisations) We may share limited personal information related to works, to the extent necessary, to:
  • administer licences for works usage of PRS/MCPS Members outside the PRS Managed Territories and distribute royalties collected for PRS/MCPS Members to us
  • pursue legal action against unauthorised works usage
    		•
    PRS/MCPS Members

    We make information relating to works available to PRS/MCPS members, including on online services (e.g the PRS Search Works tool, Product Nexus) under terms of use

    Limited personal information related to a work is shared with connected parties to a work (e.g co-writer, publisher) on providing distribution statement information and insights 

    We share, on request, limited personal information for the purposes of managing responsibilities owed by PRS to its members (e.g for canvassing purposes)

    We share information about Representatives with the relevant PRS/MCPS Member, for member account management purposes
    Licensees and industry organisations (e.g publishers, digital service platforms and record companies via online services such as Product Nexus) We share limited personal information relating to works, to the extent necessary, to:
  • discuss, arrange, administer and manage licensing arrangements
  • improve the accuracy of works usage reporting
  • enable and improve the attribution of authorship of works
    		•
    Representatives

    We may share personal information about PRS/MCPS Members with Representatives in accordance with authorisation provided

    We share information about Representatives with Representatives of the same PRS/MCPS Member for member account management purposes, particularly where such Representative holds an administrator position for a member online account
    Industry Bodies We may share your personal information related to works information:
  • to ensure works already have, or a request is made for, an International Standard Work Code (ISWC)
  • with recipients, in particular CISAC, where it enables the global network of collective rights management organisations to exchange personal information related to works and recordings
    		•
    Bank, credit reference organisations and background check providers

    We may share limited information for identity verification, fraud prevention and anti-money laundering purposes

    Any search carried out by credit reference organisations will only be a soft credit check, leaving a ‘soft footprint’ on your credit file of the provider. This means that while there is a record of information having been checked, this record will not negatively impact your credit score. The search carried out by these credit reference organisations may be made against other third party databases. The organisations may disclose to third parties that a search was undertaken 

    The credit reference organisations we use include Equifax and Experian, details of how they handle personal information can be found on their information notices, for Equifax at https://www.equifax.co.uk/crain.html and for Experian at https://www.experian.co.uk/legal/crain/

    Companies House (Government), PRS Council Member candidates (director position) and the public

    We may share personal information with Companies House for PRS’s company filing responsibilities (to the extent required) and the public (to the extent required) to meet PRS’s company law responsibilities

    We may share contact information of PRS’s voting and principal voting members with candidates standing as a Council Member, for canvassing purposes only
    Research by Government (or Governmental agencies or bodies) into industry issues We may share personal information, to the extent possible in pseudonymised form or anonymised, where this will be used to inform discussions on industry issues of importance
    Licensee agents or industry bodies (e.g Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) and the Centre for Education & Finance Management (CEFM) We may share personal information of Licensees as relevant to licensing operations carried out for us
    Government authorities (including overseas authorities), law enforcement, law advisers, regulators (e.g CMA, ICO, Ofcom) and the Dispute Resolution Ombudsmen Limited We may share personal information where we are under a legal or regulatory obligation or where there is a legitimate interest in doing so, for example for the purposes of a dispute we are engaged in or PRS complaints process being managed
    Other third parties (Support Organisations)

    We use various external companies to assist us in the effective operation of our business, particularly in relation to our IT systems. The IT related services (e.g data hosting, technical IT support, managed system support and externally hosted software such as Salesforce) may involve the service provider holding your personal information

    From time to time, we may require the assistance of various external providers of professional services (e.g lawyers, accountants, auditors and experts) as well as support services such as data cleansing companies, printing/mailing companies, works/recording usage matching organisations, music recognition technology companies, music usage collecting organisations, event organisers and third party websites

    We also use third parties to assist with the management of voting and election processes
    Parties connected with an acquisition of the business In the event that the business is sold or integrated with another business, we may share personal information with our advisers, any prospective purchaser’s advisers, and the new owners of the business to allow the business to continue

    How long do we keep your personal information for?

    We keep your information only for as long as it is needed for a particular purpose. We maintain appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic, and managerial controls) to prevent your personal data from being lost, disclosed, altered or used in any unauthorised way.

    We keep your information in accordance with our retention policy. This states different periods of time depending on the purpose for which we hold the information. This is based on why we need the data, legal and regulatory requirements, limitations for taking legal action, good practice and our business purposes. For more information on our retention periods please contact us using the details set out in Contacting Us and Your Rights.

    International transfers of personal information

    We manage the royalty distributions of PRS/MCPS Member works being used across the world. The global nature of our organisation means your personal information will be sent outside the United Kingdom, for example to overseas collection rights management organisations. We also use third party service providers located overseas.

    Where your information is transferred to an organisation located in a country outside the UK, we will ensure your information is adequately protected under applicable data protection law. Where the transfer is to a country with laws not deemed by the UK Government to adequately protect personal information, we will take steps to ensure your information is protected by other means, for example by putting in place an agreement to include standard international data transfer terms (as approved by the UK Government) and assessing the risks of transfer. For further information on international transfers, please contact us using the details set out in Contacting Us and Your Rights.

    Automated decision making

    We may use automated decision making when determining the level of royalties to pay to a PRS/MCPS Member, given the volume of information we are required to analyse to come to these decisions. These decisions take account of information from various sources, including usage (actual or estimated) of works as well as the relevant licences involved. These decisions are made pursuant to our distribution policies, for more information please see PRS’s distribution policy and MCPS’s distribution policy. These decisions and policies are regularly checked to ensure they remain fair and effective.

    If you have concerns about the royalties you have received, you can raise a query via your online membership account, contact our Membership team directly (or contact us via the details set out in Contacting Us and Your Rights) or follow one of the routes regarding royalty queries set out on the Membership portal on our website.

    Other websites

    Our website contains links to websites run by other organisations. We have no control over the content or privacy practices of these organisations. They will have their own privacy notices and are not covered by this Privacy Notice. We encourage you to read the privacy notices on any websites you may visit.

    Contacting Us and Your Rights

    If you have any questions relating to the use of your personal information or to exercise a right under data protection law (listed below), please contact us by email at dataprotection@prsformusic.com or write to us at:

    Data Protection
    Legal Team
    PRS for Music Limited
    Goldings House
    2 Hay’s Lane
    London SE1 2HB

    You have a right to ask us to:

    • provide you with further details about how we process your personal information
    • provide you with a copy of your personal information
    • update any inaccuracies in the personal information we hold about you
    • delete any of your personal information that we no longer have a lawful basis to use
    • restrict how we process your personal information
    • transfer your personal information to a third party in a machine readable format
    • object to the processing of your personal information where it is based on legitimate interests (unless our reasons for undertaking that processing outweigh any prejudice to your data subject rights and interests)
    • where processing is based on consent, stop that particular processing by withdrawing your consent

    You have the right to object to receiving marketing communications. Please be aware that if you object to receiving marketing communications, you will still receive non-marketing communications (e.g essential information about your membership such as updates regarding royalty distributions, statutory notifications about AGMs, and any fundamental changes to how we operate).

    In certain circumstances, these rights may be limited, for example if fulfilling your request would disclose personal information about another person, or if you ask us to delete information which we are required by law or have compelling legitimate interests to keep.

    If you are under 18 and would like more information about how we handle your personal information, please contact us directly or ask your parent or guardian to contact us on your behalf.

    Your Right to Complain

    If you have any concerns about how we are handling your personal information, we would like you to give us an opportunity to help resolve these. Please contact us using the details set out in Contacting Us and Your Rights.

    If you do not think we are handling your personal information adequately, or you have unresolved concerns, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority where you are based or with the authority that supervises our processing of your personal information.

    We consider the UK data protection regulator as our main supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office. Further information, including contact details, can be found on their website at ico.org.uk.

    Changes to this Privacy Notice

    This Privacy Notice will be amended from time to time. The Privacy Notice is version 2.5.

    Back to top
    switching account

    Switching your account...