‘Do we want music to be a pursuit only of the wealthy?’ Anger grows at PRS Foundation cuts
One of the UK’s biggest funders of new and emerging music, responsible for fostering the careers of artists including Sam Fender, Little Simz and 2021 Mercury prize winner Arlo Parks, has this week seen its budget slashed by 60%.
The PRS Foundation, which funds hundreds of aspiring artists and music organisations across the country – including a number of artists from groups underrepresented in the music industry – announced on Wednesday that its income would be cut from £2.75m to £1m from 2024 onwards, citing financial necessity. The decision was taken by its parent company and primary funder PRS for Music, which collects royalties for musicians when their music is streamed or played in public.
Industry professionals and artists greeted the news with dismay, foreseeing potentially disastrous consequences for the British music industry. “We’re hugely disappointed,” says Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Managers Forum. “Artists have just gone through two years in which they’ve had no live earnings. The cost of touring’s gone up, tickets aren’t selling because of the cost of living crisis. And yet their collecting society, which is sitting on enormous revenues, is slashing their funding.”
“Established artists don’t come from nowhere – often it’s years and years of hard graft for very little money,” says keyboardist Dan Leavers of London jazz trio the Comet Is Coming, who count Shabaka Hutchings as a member and were supported by an early-career PRS Foundation grant. “When we were signed to a smaller independent label, running on a tight budget, PRS accepted our application and saw something in us: that belief spurred us on to make our greatest music.”
Acting on behalf of their 160,000 members, PRS for Music
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