A performance by Laura Mvula

PRS Foundation has supported artists including Laura Mvula

Photo: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development

News

U-turn on plans to cut funding for music charity

Plans to cut funding to music charity that has supported Mercury-nominated acts such as Floating Points, Ghostpoet, and Laura Mvula, are reversed.

Neil Puffett
2 min read

Proposed funding cuts for a charity that has supported thousands of new artists including Mercury Prize nominees have been reversed.

Last summer, royalty collection body PRS for Music said it would cut funding to the music development charity the PRS Foundation, which it set up as an independent foundation more than 20 years ago, from £2.5m a year to £1m a year in 2024 – a 60% cut.

PRS for Music has now announced a new multi-year funding agreement for the charity, with year-on-year funding that will increase from next year.

The agreement follows a backlash aganst the original decision, which was made despite PRS for Music seeing overall revenue for 2021 rise 22.4% compared with 2020 to £777.1m.

As part of efforts to reverse the proposals, more than 50 organisations signed an open letter urging PRS for Music to reconsider.

Andrea Czapary Martin, PRS for Music Chief Executive, said the organisation had worked closely with the PRS Foundation and representatives from the music industry "to identify future funding models which provide both sustainability and growth, whilst maintaining the core principle of not arbitrarily deducting any such funding from royalties otherwise payable to writers or publishers".

She added that the increase in interest rates over the last year "have undoubtedly aided these considerations", as grants to PRS Foundation are funded in part from interest earned on members' royalties awaiting distribution.

PRS Foundation, one of the UK’s largest funders of new and emerging music talent, has invested in over 6,700 new music initiatives since its inception, including Mercury-nominated acts such as Floating Points, Ghostpoet, and Laura Mvula.

PRS Foundation Chief Executive Joe Frankland said the new agreement would allow the foundation "to sustain the level of grant support available to help thousands of music creators each year".

He added: "At a time where music creators face complex barriers to progression, PRS for Music’s long-term commitment to talent development allows us to respond effectively and build upon years of success together.”