MVT pilot study shows only 21 per cent of live music from grassroots venues is registered repertoire amidst

A new study from the Music Venue Trust has looked into whether current royalty distribution methods properly reflect the music being played in grassroots music venues – and found that only 21 per cent of tracks are properly registered.

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The pilot study came in collaboration with Audoo – a company that has developed technology to monitor and observe how royalties are collected and distributed to artists when their music is played.

Realizado entre agosto e setembro de 2026, o estudo foi conduzido para verificar quão precisamente os modelos de licenciamento musical existentes refletem o repertório sendo executado em locais de base.

It was also designed to help highlight the potential for technology to improve royalty distribution to songwriters.

Across the 623 hours of live performance audio, the technology identified 134 hours (21 per cent) as matching songs registered with PRS For Music. Music Venue Trust has said that these findings are consistent with its estimates.

MVT também destacou que as descobertas corroboram como ela anteriormente questionou a suposição de que há um repertório 100% registrado, e reafirma suas alegações de que mais precisa ser feito para melhorar a distribuição de royalties aos compositores.

During the pilot, there were 2,238 recognised live performances, including 23 tribute-band sets featuring more than 380 songs. It also identified songwriters performing their own material, including 13 songs from the catalogues of James Walsh of Starsailor and Ben Ottewell of Gomez.

In September alone, there were 1,190 different songs recognised during live performances – with 87 per cent only heard once – and recorded music was equally varied, with 10,943 tracks by 6,248 artists identified.

The repertoire is a stark difference from radio and major-concert consumption, which are commonly used as proxies for royalty distribution, and the findings also showed that no single artist was heard in more than 16 of the 64 venues providing data in September.

Steve Robbins, CTO da Audoo, concordou: Os compositores devem ser pagos quando sua música é executada, mas isso depende de saber o que realmente foi tocado. Nossa tecnologia pode fornecer dados detalhados de uso sem exigir que os locais enviem listas de músicas.

This larger study will give us a more comprehensive picture that we hope will benefit venues, songwriters and collecting societies alike.”.

The new study will be conducted between October and December 2026 to look deeper into the issue, and it will involve 108 grassroots venues across the UK.

Discussing the second study they are carrying out, MVT said: “From October to December, MVT and Audoo will measure music usage to build evidence for fairer venue licensing and more accurate royalty distribution, without additional paperwork or setlist submissions.

NME has reached out to a PRS representative for comment. In response, a PRS spokesperson told us: “PRS for Music has successfully used music recognition technology for many years to identify music played on radio and in clubs and festivals across the UK.

However, the technology has not yet been proven to work reliably for live performances in grassroots venues, where artists often perform new or unreleased songs.

Recognising a sound recording is also very different from identifying the underlying song or composition.

They continued: “The initial findings also appear to differ from the setlist and repertoire information we receive from members and venues. We look forward to the publication of the data so we can understand why there is a disparity.

Ultimately, we share the ambition of ensuring that music use is accurately identified and songwriters and composers are fairly rewarded for their work.”.

The study into the registered repertoire comes on the heels of more efforts made by MVT earlier this year, when they announced details of ‘Set The Record Straight: Fair Licensing Fees’.

Essa iniciativa foi realizada para explorar como as taxas de licenciamento da PRS For Music são calculadas, aplicadas e cumpridas no setor de locais de música de base no UK, e foi lançada em meio a reclamações de “systemic issues” na forma como as cobranças são avaliadas, juntamente com “incorrect capacity calculations” e “unclear liability between promoters and venues”.

Here, they identified more than £666,000 in discrepancies linked to PRS-related licensing charges, spanning venues across England, Scotland and Wales. In one case alone, they found a £90,000 error – which MVT says would be enough to permanently close a grassroots venue.

Soon after the findings were made public, the Council Of Music Makers joined the push to get the company to make more “improvements”.

These changes it outlined are that “PRS must ensure its licences are fair and transparent for both music-makers and users of music, not least grassroots venues”, and should “also employ new technology to overcome inaccuracies and inefficiencies with songwriter payments”.

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