Radically new PRS Music Library Rates for 2009

30/01/09 14:59

The New Year is a time for change and radical steps, and thankfully the MCPS has embraced this ethos whole heartedly. Along with the libraries they have listened to the customer feedback and made the necessary changes, simplifying and bundling rates, scrapping confusing rate names and lowering prices.

October 2008 saw the new competitive TV rates (IPC) introduced, and January 2009 beckons new rates for the Advertising, Corporate, Retail, Film and Online sectors.

Advertisers will be pleased to hear that the previously complex world of production music licensing as been condensed in to three very comprehensible bands:

1 - Standard Ad - pretty self explanatory and the rates are in 30 second units
2 - Advert Plus - clears an entire track for use within a single advertisement allowing unlimited revisions, cut-downs and tag ending changes
3 - Campaign - clears a complete track for use within all related advertisements of a similar or developing theme for a single product for up to 12 months but the rights for any advert made within those 12 months are cleared in perpetuity

A nice touch is the revision to the online ad rates which now allows licensing tracks for multiple URLs not just singly as it was before. There is also a rate designed to that the rights a cleared for the ad client and the agencies site which will obviously benefit show reels without any monetary impact.

However, the most forward thinking of the improvements to the online rates, is the introduction of a single rate for podcasts no matter how long or how many pieces are used, and it's only £150!

The number of rates in the corporate sector has been slashed to just one! Just £35 per 30 secs gets you music cleared for all media, all territories and for an unlimited amount of copies. In fact to have the music looped on the production it's just £70 per 30 secs.

The next revelation occurs in the retail sector where the online, audio-visual and audio-only rates allow for aggregation of cues across all production music which relates to massive savings and should allow a greater use of music.

In the film sector, the price of 30 secs of library music for a feature film with a budget of up to £3 million has been reduced from £494 to £250, a dramatic saving which will hopefully go towards helping the British film industry. A capped rate has been introduced for trailers, which means no matter how many tracks are used, the maximum that can be paid is two units. Students have also been given a break and licensing a unit will now only cost £5, an absolute bargain!

To complete the round up, here is a little reminder of the Independent Production Company (IPC) rates that were introduced in October.