Music Venue Trust (MVT) and Audoo have partnered on a new initiative on public performance royalty distributions.
The collaboration is aimed at uncovering how music played in grassroots music venues is represented within public performance distributions administered by PRS for Music and related licensing systems.
It follows a dispute between Music Venue Trust and PRS For Music on royalty calculations that went public in April. The grassroots venues charity complained of “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.
“PRS licenses venues for the use of music and relies on the data they provide, including capacity and event information,” a spokesperson responded. “Estimations are only used when the relevant data has not been provided. However, we are continuously investing in and improving the collection of live data to accelerate accurate payment of royalties, including improving setlist collection tools and exploring AI tools to find fan generated setlists to supplement missing data.”
As part of the new partnership, Audoo’s proprietary Audio Meter technology will be deployed across a statistically significant selection of 120 grassroots music venues throughout the UK, capturing exactly what music is being played in real time in a representative sample of the whole sector.
“The initiative will gather real-world music usage data, in order to assess whether current royalty distribution methodologies accurately reflect the music actually being played within grassroots music venues,” said a statement. “The partnership is rooted in a growing concern across the independent music sector that public performance royalties collected from venues are not being distributed based on accurate data.”
Music Venue Trust suggested that royalty allocations have historically relied on proxy datasets, including radio airplay, national broadcast usage, manual surveys and streaming patterns.
The concern for many years has been that existing reporting methodologies do not adequately reflect what is happening culturally within grassroots spaces
Mark Davyd
According to Audoo and MVT, this approach results in a system that “disproportionately favours a mainstream repertoire, and fails to capture the unique programming environment of grassroots venues, while independent, emerging and self-released artists who define grassroots culture miss out”.
Audoo’s Audio Meter is a compact, plug-and-play device that captures music in real time across venue environments. The data gathered through the initiative is intended to support wider industry discussions around transparency, accountability and modernisation within public performance licensing.
Both MVT and Audoo stressed that the goal is not to undermine licensing systems, but to help ensure that royalties are distributed as accurately and fairly as possible using real-world music usage data.
Mark Davyd, founder and CEO of Music Venue Trust, said: “Grassroots music venues pay significant licence fees every year, and venue operators rightly expect that money to flow back to the artists and songwriters whose music they actually champion. The concern for many years has been that existing reporting methodologies do not adequately reflect what is happening culturally within grassroots spaces. This partnership with Audoo allows us to contribute meaningful data and evidence to that conversation.”
Ryan Edwards, founder and CEO of Audoo, added: “For too long, public performance royalty distributions have relied on inaccurate proxy data sources that do not fully represent the diversity of music being played in venues across the UK – something we have successfully helped to evolve around the world.
“Audoo was created to revolutionise an outdated system and provide a scalable and accurate solution, and by partnering with Music Venue Trust, we have an opportunity to demonstrate how data can help create a fairer and more transparent ecosystem for venues, artists and songwriters alike.”
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