Competition Appeal Tribunal rejects black box royalties claim against PRS For Music | Publishing

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has issued its judgement on the proposed class action against PRS For Music.  

The legal claim by Blur’s Dave Rowntree, on behalf of PRS members, related to the distribution of ‘black box’ royalties – those collected by PRS which cannot be matched with the correct songwriter or publisher because of inaccurate or insufficient information.

Black box royalties, and their method of distribution, has been an ongoing issue in the sector. The Ivors Academy estimated that it amounted to £500 million globally in 2021.

The legal claim against PRS was effectively seeking a redistribution of these black box royalties away from publisher members to songwriter members.

“The complaint is made that for each royalty stream black box royalties are distributed to songwriters and publishers in the same proportions as matched royalties, but that this leads to unfairness,” stated the court judgement in summary of the claim. “The unfairness is said to arise because the the proportion of writer royalties which are black box is greater than the proportion of publisher royalties which are black box.”

However, the Competition Appeal Tribunal found in favour of PRS stating the claim did “not disclose facts which support the claim for infringement” of competition law, nor did it have “a reasonable prospect of success”. 

A PRS For Music spokesperson said: “We welcome the Tribunal’s comprehensive decision to reject this claim, noting that no evidence was provided to support the suggestion that PRS’s distribution policies are unfair, nor was a plausible alternative put forward. It has always been our position that these allegations were based on a fundamental misrepresentation of our policies and operations, which has been fully vindicated in this judgment. 

“The Tribunal clearly identified that the class was effectively suing itself. It also noted that it was not clear how PRS would be able to pay any costs and damages other than by diverting royalties away from its members, including funds that would end up going to pay legal fees and the litigation funder.”

The statement added: “We also welcome the specific reference to existing mechanisms to resolve any members’ concerns, including via the Members’ Council. 

“We look forward to returning our focus to where it belongs – delivering world class services, accelerating accurate royalty payments and further reducing administration rates to pay more royalties to songwriters and composers.”

For more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to receive our daily Morning Briefing newsletter

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}