Photo credit: Fatma Jarghon / Unsplash
The first update to the cinema tariff since 2005 raises the per-ticket rate, scraps the box-office option and applies backdated to July 2024.
Every time you watch a film in a British cinema, a small part of your ticket goes to the songwriters whose music is in it. After a two-year fight, that part is about to get bigger.
The UK Copyright Tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music, the collecting society for songwriters, composers and publishers, in its dispute with the UK Cinema Association (UKCA) over how much cinemas pay to play music. PRS announced the decision on Oct. 12.
Film producers license songs from publishers when they put them in a movie. But every public screening is a separate “performance,” and that right usually sits with PRS. So cinemas need a PRS license too, which also covers music played between films and at events such as DJ sets or live performances.
The tariff behind that license, known as Tariff C, was last agreed in 2005. PRS argued it “no longer reflected the realities of today’s cinema industry,” because films now use much more music. Its 2023 analysis of the 70 highest-grossing films in the U.K. found that music’s share of runtime grew by 22% between 2005 and 2022. The Tribunal accepted that films, and therefore cinemas, use more music than they did in 2005.
The rate rises from 7.33p to 7.9p per cinemagoer, according to Music Week, and will increase with inflation every year. There is also only one way to pay: cinemas used to choose between 1% of net box office or a fee per admission, whichever was lower, but from now on it is always per admission. The annual minimum fee per screen goes up from £75 to £131.50, and royalties on concert screenings rise from 3% to 4% of ticket and booking-fee revenue. The new rates apply to music used from July 1, 2024, making them backdated.
The approved rate is lower than what PRS originally sought: 8.43p per admission in its 2023 proposal and 8.33p in 2024.
The UKCA argued that a fixed rate per ticket hurts venues with cheap tickets, often small independents. Before the hearing, it estimated that PRS’s proposals would raise its members’ annual payments by 42%, or about £4 million. UKCA chief executive Phil Clapp told Screen Daily the case was needed to “challenge what is a completely unreasonable approach taken by the PRS.” PRS says it is keeping a low-admissions discount that can cut a cinema’s bill by up to 25%.
“We welcome the Tribunal’s decision which recognises the increased value of music in the overall cinema experience,” said Dan Gopal, chief commercial officer at PRS for Music. “This judgement validates those efforts.”
The final tariff still has to be agreed with the UKCA and approved at another hearing. Meanwhile, PRS will cut its admin fee on cinema royalties from 19% to 16% starting Jan. 1, 2027.
The next time a soundtrack gives you goosebumps in the dark, someone is now getting paid a little more for it.
Sources: CMU · Music Business Worldwide · Music Week · Film Stories
About the Author
