Songwriters promised more royalties

The British agency in charge of collecting royalties is confident that Maltese songwriters should soon start seeing a better return on their artistic efforts.

The Performing Rights Society (UK) said that since 2007 it had managed to get a bigger number of local radio and television stations to pay an annual licence fee, which would translate into better earnings for the songwriters in payments due.

From the roughly 23 radio stations and six TV stations in Malta, 12 were now paying the fee as opposed to only three stations that used to do so prior to 2007, said PRS. This would have an impact on the amount collected from Malta.

Last week, the Guild for Maltese Composers, Authors, Singers and Musicians (UKAM) threatened to call on the authorities to revoke the agency's licence to collect royalties, claiming they were not being paid the full amount owed. UKAM said local songwriters had not received more than €87,000 in royalties from the amount owed for 2007.

But Malcolm Buckland, from PRS, denied this: "A number of songwriters were hearing their music played but felt they were not being paid because the stations were not paying a licence. We believe we made payments in full."

PRS, he said, did not hold any money back and distributed whatever was collected: Local songwriters received about €175,000 net between them for 2007, some 52 per cent of the €506,000 collected from Malta minus the 26 per cent administration fee. (The rest goes to foreign artistes whose music is played on local stations).

"We were a little surprised with the stand taken by UKAM," the PRS head of PR, Barney Hooper said, adding the company felt it was doing "a heck of a lot" to give Maltese artistes the money they deserved.

PRS has launched a unique scheme for Maltese songwriters allowing them to claim backdated royalties, which should be paid in the coming weeks.

Liam Donnelly, senior manager of PRS's international relations department, said the British company would be willing to help local songwriters set up their own collecting agency.

In a letter to its Maltese members, PRS said it had considerable experience in assisting countries to set up new collecting societies. The agency said it distributed money to members every July and it was hoping to go for twice yearly payments from next year.