CLAIMANTS HIT BACK AT PRS IN OPEN LETTER

The songwriters suing British PRO PRS for Music have published an open letter to the organization refuting a number of statements it's made in response to their allegations.

Signed by claimants including Robert Fripp of King Crimson and William Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain, alongside PACE Rights Management, the letter aims to provide PRS members with “some much-needed transparency” about what the org is “claiming to do in their name and spending their money on.”

The songwriters object to what they perceive as a lack of transparency, efforts to prevent writers from directly licensing their live-public-performance rights and the preferential treatment of higher-earning members.

In their letter, they address a statement by PRS that said it's been engaged with the claimants for more than five years and has sought to address their concerns collaboratively. The letter says these claims of engagement are “simply untrue” and that “PRS has refused to engage or discuss any matter with PACE for more than seven years, let alone in a sincere and constructive way.” PACE contends that it has met with PRS twice to discuss the allegations in the lawsuit but insists that discussion was not welcome and that the entity failed to address any of its material points.

The communication also cites PRS’ "failure" to operate in the collective interests of its members and “lack of awareness and disconnect” of its members' needs.

“We challenge the PRS to be transparent with the membership about how much of members' money it has spent and is intending on spending and to defend policies that make the members less money and restrict their ability to exploit their rights in the way they'd like,” it concludes.

The letter from Fripp et al. can be read in full here.