Music Venue Trust Launches ‘Set The Record Straight’ Campaign Over PRS Licensing Fees for Grassroots Venues

New initiative highlights widespread discrepancies and calls for greater accuracy, transparency and fairness in PRS billing

MVT has identified more than £666,000 in discrepancies linked to PRS-related licensing charges

Music Venue Trust (MVT), which represents hundreds of UK Grassroots Music Venues (GMVs), has launched a new campaign entitled ‘Set The Record Straight: Fair Licensing Fees’, putting the spotlight on how PRS for Music licensing fees are calculated, applied and enforced across the UK Grassroots Music Venue sector.
The initiative, led by MVT’s Rights Management Specialist Gareth Kelly, focuses on what the organisation describes as systemic issues in the way PRS-related charges are assessed, including the use of estimated data, incorrect capacity calculations and unclear liability between promoters and venues.

Music Venue Trust is clear that the campaign is not a challenge to the principle of PRS licensing itself. It says fair licensing is fundamental to ensuring songwriters and composers are paid when their work is performed. However, it argues that inaccuracies in how those fees are calculate and enforced are creating significant and unnecessary financial pressure within a sector already operating on extremely tight margins.

Recent work by MVT has identified more than £666,000 in discrepancies linked to PRS-related licensing charges, spanning venues across England, Scotland and Wales. In one case alone, it identified a £90,000 error, a figure MVT says could be enough to permanently close a Grassroots Venue.

 

According to MVT, discrepancies have been identified across multiple regions, including more than £56,000 in the North West, over £20,000 in the South West, close to £50,000 in London, more than £80,000 in Wales and over £75,000 in Scotland. The organisation says these figures reflect a broader pattern of billing based on estimated rather than actual usage, with charges in some cases linked to maximum theoretical capacity rather than real attendance or sellable space.

MVT also highlights ongoing concerns around liability, particularly in cases where Grassroots Venues are held responsible for PRS fees on promoter-led events. The organisation argues that where promoters control ticket income and event delivery, responsibility for performance rights fees should be more clearly aligned.

The campaign further raises questions around enforcement practices. MVT says that automated processes linked to disputed or inaccurate fee assessments have resulted in five Grassroots Venues receiving County Court Judgments, with more than 50 venues facing legal threats, outcomes it says can have serious consequences for credit ratings, financial stability and operator wellbeing.

The campaign launches at a time when PRS for Music’s Live Popular tariff remains a significant cost for grassroots venues and promoters and with no specific date in the calendar for the full review and significant overhaul of tariffs in the grassroots sector required.

MVT says this represents a key opportunity to address long-standing concerns around how licensing fees are applied at the grassroots level. As part of it its new campaign MVT will roll out a series of explanatory content, case studies and data-led insights designed to improve understanding of licensing practices and highlight where reform is needed. The organisation is also calling for greater transparency in fee calculation, improved data accuracy and a clearer framework around responsibility for licensing payments within the live music ecosystem.