Music licensing and sports clubs

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is keenly aware of the burden of music licence fees on sports clubs, which are charged for any music they play.

Clubs are already operating in a challenging financial climate, with an average annual surplus of just over £1000.

It is vitally important that these fees do not make a difficult situation worse.

Background

• The Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988 gives licensing bodies such as the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and the Performing Rights Society (PRS) the authority to collect fees on behalf of the organisations they represent.
• There are two separate fees that are generally required when a sound recording is played in public: PPL charges fees which are distributed to record companies and performers and PRS charges fees which are then distributed to composers and publishers.
• In 2010 the Government revamped music licensing legislation in order to bring the UK into line with international law, which ended exemptions for not-for-profit organisations.

Status

• As of January 2012 sports clubs are no longer exempt from the payment of PPL fees. A licence will therefore be required to authorise any ‘public performance’, which includes a wide variety of actions such as listening to a radio in a sports club or a vehicle.
• The Alliance is currently renegotiating deals with PRS and PPL under the new licensing regime.

Actions

The Alliance will continue to work with the Government to campaign for:

• The introduction of a cap on music licence fees to ensure that no community organisation is faced with crippling costs.
• A fair pricing structure which recognises that community organisations’ incomes are not proportional to profit.
• Joint licensing from PRS and PPL to reduce the bureaucratic burden on clubs.

Progress so far

• The Alliance has worked with PRS to create a new tariff which was consulted on at the start of 2012. The results are pending.
• In October 2011, PPL exempted sports clubs from their Special Featured Entertainment tariff following negotiations with the Alliance.
• The Alliance is working on a deal with PPL for their new licence. PPL has removed its proposal to base the tariff on a club's income - music usage is not proportionate to membership fees.

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