PRS for Music to launch songwriter metadata portal 

The tool is expected to be launched in 2023. PRS said the portal will allow songwriters, composers and music publishers to search and download key information about their works, providing them with greater visibility and more control over their data. It will also enable them to highlight any discrepancies, while giving DSPs access to writer information, facilitating more songwriter credits on streaming services.

“The recent Digital Culture Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into the Economics Of Streaming highlighted the need for greater availability and transparency of industry metadata, and how improvements to the current systems were needed to accelerate the flow of royalties to music creators,” PRS said. “By releasing this information, PRS for Music is determined to remove key barriers to the flow of royalties worldwide, ultimately improving the matching of sound recordings and musical works and increasing the speed and accuracy of royalty payments.”

PRS boss Andrea Czapary Martin said: “PRS For Music is embracing the latest technologies to build this portal, empowering members to grow the value of their works through better visibility. We’re putting the power of metadata into the hands of creators for their benefit. Clean data directs the flow of royalties and is the key to ensuring that songwriters and music publishers are properly paid for the use of their music and are given credit for their songs. This is fundamental to securing a stronger global royalty system.”

PRS said it would first make data available for more than two million works, with many more to follow. A ballpark estimate puts the songs currently streaming between 30 to 35 million, according to the libraries of Spotify and Apple Music, excluding recordings of the same song.

Determining copyright ownership is often tricky due to lack of a global database of music rights. The task is usually left to collecting societies in each market to manage databases of the works they represent, which are typically not easily accessible, creating challenges for companies looking to license the use of music. The issues around music rights data are exacerbated by the way songs are licensed to streaming services and digital royalties paid to songwriters.

Also last week, US collecting society the MLC said it would work with music distributors to track down the writers of recordings that have never been linked to a song in an attempt to reduce the digital black box and pay writers outstanding streaming royalties.