Insights PRS for Music launches new Online Live Concert licence for small-scale livestreamed gigs

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PRS for Music has launched a new licensing portal for music creators, venues and promoters wanting to stage and livestream small-scale gigs, DJ events, classical concerts and theatrical events online. The portal has been launched in response to the huge rise in livestreamed concerts as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Available for live online events staged in the UK with revenues below £500, the PRS for Music says that the new portal will allow the event organiser to pay the fixed licence fee and obtain the necessary rights for their event simply and quickly. PRS for Music will not be actively pursuing licences for livestreamed events that took place prior to the launch of the new portal, which would have qualified for the fixed fee licence.

PRS for Music explains that online live concerts are a form of video exploitation and require a licence for the same rights as any other type of online music usage. In normal circumstances, online live concerts are an incremental revenue stream to live performance. PRS for Music, however, recognises that as long as the physical live sector remains closed, livestreamed concerts, whilst still a different form of exploitation to a physical gig or concert, are in part substitutional for physical gigs and concerts. As such, PRS for Music is proposing to apply temporary discounted rates until the live sector can reopen. Conversations are active and ongoing with major licensees about the details of such discounted rates. In the meantime, anyone considering planning an online ticketed music event that does not qualify for the fixed fee licence should contact the PRS for Music licensing team who can offer bespoke advice on licensing options.

PRS for Music also says that it is proactively in discussion with other societies to deliver licensing solutions for UK-based gigs and concerts which might be accessed internationally. A global blanket licence of this type would be the first of its kind within the collecting society network. To read PRS for Music’s announcement in full and for a link to the new licensing portal, click here.

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