PRS For Music royalty collections for 2025 increased by 7.7% year-on-year to £1.24 billion.
The society – which represents the rights of more than 190,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers – paid out £1.07 billion to rightsholders in 2025, a 4.9% increase on 2024.
While both collections and distributions to members showed solid growth, there was a mixed picture in the various revenue categories.
“International was down a little bit, 3%, because we didn't have as many big artists on tour,” CEO Andrea Czapary Martin told Music Week. “Revenues did increase internationally, but not royalties paid out because of that [lack of big tours by PRS members]. But video-on-demand [collections] increased by 20% and was also double-digit in payouts, streaming continues to grow. Public performance has done well and live has done incredibly well. So there are some good stats.”
2026 will mark Czapary Martin’s final year at PRS following her announcement that she is stepping down after seven years. She won Businesswoman Of The Year at the Music Week Women In Music Awards 2023.
Of the royalties issued for this period, 4,541 songwriters and composers were paid for the first time, receiving £1.96 million in royalties.
“It is meaningful,” said Czapary Martin. “And [emerging artists] can grow as part of our talent programmes.”
According to PRS For Music, the overall growth reflects not only an increase in total revenues, but a continued expansion in the number of works and performances generating value for creators across live, streaming and international markets.
Overall, PRS For Music paid out against 7.8 million unique works in 2025, an increase of 41% (2.3m) since 2020. In delivering record distributions to songwriters, composers and publishers, royalties are flowing to more creators and across an expanding repertoire of works.
According to PRS, the increase in royalties is driven both by the volume of music and better monetisation.
“It's a combination,” said Czapary Martin. “As you know, we've been very strong in making sure that the members are paid fairly and that more members are paid. We have signed so many better deals and new deals. Just last year there were 60. And if you remember when I stood up at the AGM last year, it was 120 in two years. So when you have new deals, better deals in markets where you have never been before, then, of course, that drives the [revenue].”
Live music milestone
For the first time in PRS’ more than 110-year history, revenue collected from live music generated more than £100 million (£101.4m), up by 13.2% compared to 2024.
Overall revenues from public performance, including live and music played or performed in public (shops, restaurants, bars etc.) represented a 9.1% year-on-year increase to £313.4m.
“It's across the piece,” said Czapary Martin. “Because if you look at it, [revenue from] pubs and clubs also increases, restaurants increase. So it's not just the big stadium shows where it has increased.”
Nevertheless, with PRS members including Harry Styles – who’s set to break records this summer at Wembley Stadium – the income from blockbuster shows in the UK is set to continue growing.
In 2025, PRS reported more creators earning from performances than ever before, including many being paid for the first time.
More than 37,600 members received royalties from live performances, with live music playing a key role in supporting emerging creators. A quarter of all first-time earners received royalties because their music was performed live.
PRS recently announced that it would waive the £1 grassroots contribution from its licensing fees. It has also launched its Livelihood campaign aimed at encouraging setlist submission and education around distributions.
“This progress is supported by increased reporting of live performances with more than 231,000 setlists submitted for live performances, helping ensure that more performances are recognised and paid,” said PRS.
Online royalties lead the way
Streaming continues to dominate, contributing £351.4m of royalties collected, up 11.8% year-on-year.
While streaming consumption is maturing in markets such as the UK, PRS also collects royalties from international markets, either through ICE for online licensing in Europe or other international reciprocal agreements.
It's a combination of good licences, a strong international division and reciprocal agreements that are delivering that double-digit growth in online
Andrea Czapary Martin
“It's a combination of good licences, a strong international division and reciprocal agreements that are delivering that double-digit growth,” said Czapary Martin.
Within PRS’ online revenues, video-on-demand also saw a year-on-year increase, up by 20.1% year-on-year to £77.2m. Overall, PRS collected £447.2m of online royalties, up by 9.6% year-on-year.
“We moved to monthly payments for online streaming, giving creators faster access to the money they’ve earned and the insights they need to understand how their music is performing, all with the aim of continuing to deliver a world-leading royalty distribution service in a rapidly evolving music landscape,” said Czapary Martin.
Europe tops international revenue for members
International royalty income totalled £367.3m, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year, of which 28% was collected for music used in North America.
International remains the second biggest contributor of income. It follows strong international results for neighbouring rights organisation PPL.
Europe remained the most important market for PRS members’ music, with revenue exceeding £200m (£200.6m), up by 7.9% compared to the previous year.
Revenue from linear TV and radio broadcast remained relatively stable, increasing 0.2% year-on-year to £111.8m. It means that online VOD is catching up with traditional broadcast income.
“I think there's going to be a crossover [between the two], you see the VOD increasing quite a lot,” said Czapary Martin. “Broadcast is still strong, but I think if we can keep it flat [in terms of growth] that would be good.”
It marks the second consecutive year that PRS has paid out over £1 billion to songwriters, composers and publishers. PRS For Music’ became a billion pound society in 2023, two years ahead of schedule.
In just 10 years, PRS has doubled the value flowing back to rights-holders – £621m in 2016 to £1.24bn in 2025 – by accelerating licensing in new markets and securing new terms with major existing customers.
Czapary Martin suggested half of that was down to the general market increase across music, and half was the result of PRS proactively driving revenue increases.
“If you compare us to other societies, we're pretty well the highest to date [for 10-year growth],” she said. “And if you compare it to 2024, we have the highest growth year-over- year, with the lowest income ratio.”
Music Venue Trust has called for greater transparency on licensing fees. But other organisations came out in defence of the collection society.
PRS has recently launched enhanced online tools and services for members and continues to invest in improving how music usage is tracked and reported.
“I believe success for a society shouldn’t be measured by the money collected,” said Czapary Martin. “It must be measured by how quickly, fairly and accurately the songwriters and composers receive the royalties they are due.”
Last year, PRS Foundation celebrated 25 years since its launch, During that time PRS For Music has provided funding in excess of £50 million to PRS Foundation.
The society also advocates for creators’ rights in areas such as AI and licensing, in order to safeguard the rights of songwriters and composers and ensure their work is properly valued.
PHOTO: Louise Haywood-Schiefer
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