PRS for Music will receive track-by-track music usage data from Soundtrack for approximately 7,000 UK premises. The agreement is intended to help PRS base more public performance royalty payments to songwriters, composers and music publishers on music actually played in businesses.
Soundtrack provides music streaming for businesses. Its UK customers include Ole & Steen, Uniqlo, Dr. Martens, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Kiehl’s, Joe & The Juice and TAG Heuer. The UK Parliament also uses its platform.
PRS already incorporates play data from background music providers into royalty distributions. The Soundtrack agreement gives it direct usage information from more premises, including shops, bars and other public spaces, and reduces its reliance on comparable data where actual play records have been unavailable.
“Our focus at PRS is simple: to pay our members as accurately and as quickly as we can,” said Ben McOwen Wilson, CEO of PRS for Music. He said PRS plans to keep testing technology and working with industry partners to improve how it identifies music use and pays members.
Soundtrack says it has direct licensing agreements with thousands of rights holders and a direct connection to the digital music value chain. Its repertoire contains 150 million songs, and it says it can provide PRS with current usage and ownership data.
