PRS For Music has shared that its royalty collections for 2025 increased by 7.7% year-on-year to £1.24 billion ($1.6 billion) on Thursday (April 30).
The U.K. collection society, which represents 190,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, shared the figures as part of their financial results for the past 12 months.
The release says that PRS paid out against 7.8 million unique works in 2024, an increase of 41% (2.3m) since 2020. Royalty collections increased by 7.7%, or £88.2 million ($119.2 million) from 2024 to the £1.24 billion ($1.6 billion) total, and PRS reports a payout of £1.07 billion ($1.44 billion) to rights holders in 2025, a 4.9% increase making up £49.9 million ($67.5 million) on 2024. Of that amount, 4,541 songwriters and composers were paid out for the first time with £1.96 million ($2.65 million) in royalties.
The report also highlights that revenue collected from live music generated a £101.4 million ($137.2 million) lift of 13.2%, or £11.9 million ($16.1 million), on 2024. Revenue from public performance, including live and music played or performed in public (in shops, restaurants, bars etc.) represented a 9.1%, or £26.1 million ($35.3 million), year-on-year increase to £313.4 million ($424 million).
Streaming continues to dominate discovery and access to music, contributing £351.4 million ($475.4 million) of royalties collected, up 11.8%, or £37.1 million ($50.1 million), on 2024. Video-on-Demand revenue also saw a year-on-year increase, up by 20.1%, or £12.9 million ($17.4 million), to £77.2 million ($104.4 million). In total, PRS collected £447.2 million ($604.9 million) of online royalties, up by 9.6%, or £39.3 million ($53.1 million), on 2024.
Europe was the most lucrative market for PRS members’ music, with revenue crossing the £200 million mark at £200.6 million ($271.2 million), up 7.9%, or £9 million ($12.1 million), on 2024’s amount. International royalty income totaled £367.3 million ($496.5 million), an increase of 4.2%, or £14.8 million ($20 million), on 2024, of which 28% was collected for music used in North America.
Andrea Czapary Martin, PRS for Music’s chief executive said: “We’ve delivered another year of strong growth, with revenues up 7% and for the second consecutive year paying over £1 billion [$1.3 billion] to songwriters, composers and publishers. In just 10 years PRS has doubled the value flowing back to rightsholders, £621 million [$839.2 million] in 2016 to £1.24 billion [$1.67 billion] in 2025, by accelerating licensing in new markets and securing new terms with major existing customers.
She added: “I believe success for a society shouldn’t be measured by the money collected. It must be measured by how quickly, fairly and accurately the songwriters and composers receive the royalties they are due. In 2025, we saw particularly strong growth in live with more creators earning from performances than ever before, including many being paid for the first time. 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.”
