Just 36% of UK club royalties reach the “correct creators”, new report finds

Just 36% of nightclub performance royalties in the UK reach the “correct creators”, according to a new report titled Electronic Music Royalties Under the Microscope.

The report has been created by Fair Play, a new independent initiative for transparency in dance music royalties made up of members of Aslice, a music revenue-sharing platform which closed in 2024, and research firm Audience Strategies.

The Fair Play audit investigates the UK’s “performance rights system”, assessing how royalties earned by DJ sets played on UK dancefloors can be fairly distributed.

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It found that an estimated £5.7 million is misallocated each year, and that just under 30% of a medium nightclubʼs £20,000 annual PRS/PPL licence fee reaches the right creators.

According to the report, 21% of that fee goes to admin, while 50.6% is misallocated. It also found that under 7% of a total 851 UK clubs use Music Recognition Technology.

60 club rooms currently use this technology, including London’s fabric, though it reports that the exact number of clubs who employ it is currently unknown.

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Elsewhere, the report finds that 88% of UK venues rely on analogue distribution such as radio playlists, which only achieves around 50% attribution accuracy.

“Producers in electronic music didn't see themselves as songwriters, so they weren't joining PRS and other performing rights organisations,” says Mark Lawrence, Global Head at Believe Music. 

“The failure, if it is a failure, is all across that sort of value chain of grassroots education... Almost at every step, it's a leaky bucket,” he says. “The role of the industry in maintaining a level of education about what people need to do to earn income is a big and constant role, and one that is let down.”

Read Fair Play’s Electronic Music Royalties Under the Microscope report here.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter