RadioPRO Copyright Licences: Vital for Artistic Creation

By Paula Cohen, RadioPRO Board Member

Copyright licences rarely get much attention. They are the mechanism by which artists, composers and performers are paid for work that other people are using, and without them most of the creative economy would simply stop functioning. RadioPRO, as a Collective Management Organisation, spends most of its working life on them. What follows is an account of what these licences are, what we do with them, and where the money ends up.

What a copyright licence actually is

A copyright licence is a legal agreement granting permission to use copyrighted material on defined terms. Different uses need different licences, and most people in the industry will encounter several:

• Performance licences cover public performance – concerts, radio, television, and music played in venues.
• Mechanical licences cover reproduction on physical media such as CDs and vinyl, and digital downloads.
• Synchronisation licences cover the use of music in audiovisual work: films, television, advertising.
• Digital licences cover use on digital platforms, including streaming services and online radio.

Between them, these are what make it possible for a creator to be paid when someone else uses their work.

What RadioPRO does

RadioPRO manages copyright and related rights on behalf of rightsholders in the music sector. We work with composers, authors, performers, producers, publishers and music ensembles worldwide, provided they are not already represented by another CMO. In practice the job comes down to three things: we license music to the people who want to use it – broadcasters, online platforms, public venues; we collect the royalties those licences generate; and we distribute what we collect to the rightsholders it belongs to.

Done properly, that work is what allows artists to concentrate on making music rather than chasing payments.

Tariffs and licensing fees

Our tariffs are set to pay rightsholders fairly without making licensing unaffordable for the businesses that use music. The main rates are as follows.

Private radio stations

• Up to 20% music use: 0.1% of all income.
• 21–40% music use: 0.2% of all income.
• 41–60% music use: 0.3% of all income.
• 61–80% music use (minimum £400 annually): 0.4% of all income.
• Over 80% music use (minimum £400 annually): 0.5% of all income.

Public and municipal radio stations

• All stations: 0.15% on fee, subscription or subsidies, and 0.2% on advertising income.

Online use of music

• Non-commercial webcasting services: £15 per year per channel (up to 2 channels, maximum 100 simultaneous streams).
• Commercial webcasting services: £50 per year per channel, for a maximum of 2 channels and yearly revenue under £2,500 (maximum 500 simultaneous streams).
• Background music on websites: 0.15% of all income (minimum £35 annually).
• Podcasting: 0.35% of all income (minimum £60 annually).
• Streaming video and music, not on demand: 1% of all income (minimum £60 annually).
• Streaming video on demand: 0.35% of all income (minimum £60 annually).
• Streaming music on demand: 1% of all income (minimum £70 annually).
• Downloads, all formats: 1.2% of all income (minimum £84 annually).
• Mobile apps: 0.6% of all income (minimum £35 annually).
• WebTV / IPTV: 0.22% of all income (minimum £0.12 per subscriber monthly).

TV stations

• Private TV stations: annual fee of 0.2% of all income sources.
• Public and municipal TV stations: annual fee of 0.15% on fees, subscriptions or subsidies, and 0.2% on advertising.

Public performance

• Businesses where music is necessary, such as nightclubs and music venues: annual licence fee of 1% of gross income, with minimum fees based on floor area.
• Businesses for which music is essential, such as cafeterias and restaurants: annual fee of 0.5% of gross income, with minimum amounts per year.
• Businesses for which music is useful, such as hotels and gyms: annual flat fee according to floor area.

The point of setting them out in this detail is that everyone who uses music contributes on a comparable basis, and can see how their own figure was arrived at.

What this means for artists

For a working musician, royalties are a revenue stream that arrives steadily rather than in one lump. A single radio play is worth very little. Accumulated across dozens of stations and platforms over a year, the same plays add up to something an artist can plan around – which is what makes it possible to fund the next record.

Two illustrations of how the money moves. A private radio station paying 0.3% of its income on an annual turnover of £500,000 contributes £1,500 in licensing fees. An online streaming service paying 1% on annual revenue of £1,000,000 contributes £10,000. Neither figure is dramatic on its own; collected across an entire licensed market and distributed to the rightsholders whose work was actually played, they become the backbone of how recorded music is funded, particularly now that physical sales have fallen away.

Where the difficulties lie

Licensing is not frictionless, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.

The agreements themselves can be daunting, particularly for a small business that simply wants to play music legally and does not know where to start. We publish detailed guidance and FAQs, and our staff will talk anyone through their obligations.

Payment timing is the complaint we hear most often from members, and it is a fair one. Royalties that arrive late are a real problem for people whose income is already irregular. Our answer is process: efficient collection and distribution, regular audits, and reporting that lets members see where their money is.

Then there is the question of whether the split is fair in the first place. Our tariffs are structured to balance what rightsholders need against what music users can reasonably pay, using a mix of minimum fees and percentage rates so that the fee tracks the use.

What comes next

Licensing will have to keep changing, because the industry keeps changing.

Blockchain offers a way of recording copyright information and royalty payments on a ledger that all parties can see and none can quietly alter. If every use of a track were recorded that way, most royalty disputes would become matters of fact rather than argument.

Artificial intelligence is already useful for the unglamorous work of tracking usage across platforms and calculating what is owed. It cuts administrative cost, improves accuracy, and helps identify unauthorised use so that rightsholders can act on it.

Streaming, meanwhile, continues to dominate how people listen, and licensing models have to keep pace – which means negotiating better terms with the platforms and paying proper attention to newer formats such as live streaming and virtual performance.

In closing

Copyright licences pay for artistic work and keep the use of that work lawful. Organisations like RadioPRO exist to administer them, and the quality of that administration has a direct effect on whether musicians can afford to keep going.

The industry will keep moving, and licensing has to move with it. But the principle underneath does not change: if you use someone’s music, you pay for it, and the payment reaches the person who made it.