Are songwriters losing money by not joining MCPS?

[thecastleremains]

Ok, I’m trying to get my head around this...... take a deep breath lol

(a) I’m registered with PRS only.

(b) I sell my music on various small independent retailers which say on their website, they take 8% off the retail price per track, as they give it to MCPS (because this retailer has obviously got a license with MCPS)

(c) I then read here Joint Online Licence (JOL)

(d) So, of this 8% that’s deducted per track, PRS will get 25%, and MCPS gets 75%


My very simple question is……..... "What happens to the 75% if you dont have a publisher, and your not registered with MCPS?


The reason why i'm asking this on here, is because I posed this question to PRSforMusic, by phone and email, but no-one there knows the answer, keeps avoiding the question, or just plain 'wont answer me

It's got me paranoid, into thinking there's some kind of deviance. Any new retailer offering downloads is, at some point, approached by MCPS at some point, and MCPS will tell them something like “If you join us, we promise to give 8% of the download to PRsforMusic members, and we only keep 12% commission”.

But this is misleading. MCPS will probably be keeping that 75% "if your not a member of MCPS", which they don’t tell any PRS member about. I myself have phoned up PRSforMusic numerous times with questions about joining MCPS, but every-time I ask questions, the staff try and persuade me 'not' to join, as they say it's not worth it tutttutt

So, I guess…… if this is true? then the best course of action, is to join both PRS ‘and’ MCPS, to make sure your getting all of that 8% (minus their 12% commission)

Hope someone, with more knowledge on PRS and MCPS, can provide clarity on the 8% situation, as every single penny counts when you’re a struggling musician

[Amber]

Maybe they think the income you'll make from the MCPS percentage isn't worth the sign up fee from MCPS.

I know with PRS they don't actually charge you the initial fee, they just take it when you start having some royalty income from them.

Are these indie retailers making physical copies with your music?

[thecastleremains]

Oops, this is about downloads only. I should have said 'online retailers'

(I guess your right about the sign-up fee, but this is about the long-term. You dont pay 50quid to sign-up every year. So perhaps one year i will sell 500 downloads, but the next year 5000 downloads)

Most online retailers are led by MCPS into getting a license, and PrsforMusic then take 8% from the tracks.

I've chatted to loads of songwriters about this, and literally no one knows about this, I mean it's money, no matter how small..

example: Sell 5000 copies of a single at 1 pound on an online store that's signed up with MCPS, and that's a 400 quid cut that PrsforMusic takes from your song.

You would 'expect' to get that back, because your the songwriter, minus their 12% commission. All download stores are told that this 8% goes straight back to the songwriters.

Most songwriters are signed up with PRS, right? So you get back 25% of that if your with PRS (£100) but the rest? where does it go? My guess is, if your not signed up with MCPS (i.e. your work is copyright control, and you dont have a publisher collecting this), you will lose 300quid, MCPS just keeps it........ I guess thats why their so reluctant to tell me tutt 300 quid is a lot to me.

The thing thats got me crazy, is that no one tells you this stuff, including PrsForMusic.That 8% is due to us (minus their commission), and they are keeping a big percentage of that, and they dont tell songwriters about it, thus the songwriters dont sign-up with MCPS

I guess the only way to make sure you get everything these-days, is to sell downloads from your own website and not join MCPS,
or if you need to join MCPS (if your downloads are on itunes, or if you are on a compilation album), then join PRS and MCPS, to make sure you get everything due.

[thecastleremains]

And Btw, You can join up with MCPS if your music is downloaded from 'any store which has a license with MCPS' e.g. itunes, amazon, 7digital etc etc.

[Artful Dodger]

Hi, I think you raise a very important point and MCPS and PRS should answer clearly and promptly. Its the same story, in the middle ages, ordinary folk were not allowed to read the Bible justs in case they worked out other ways of atonement rather than coughing money up for the Church. So, same rubbish, different century. Incidently, I have attempted the same question to the Irish PRS with equal difficulty. Keep plugging and we'll get this sorted. Cheers, Artful Dodger.