The row over a planned cut in donations from British collecting society PRS for Music to charity the PRS Foundation rumbles on.
We reported on the society’s response to criticism of the decision last Thursday, but now a group of UK industry bodies and organisations has published an open letter calling again for a u-turn. The MMF, Ivors Academy, Youth Music, FAC, AIM, Black Lives in Music and the Black Music Coalition are among the signatories to the letter, which you can read here.
“We stand together to urge PRS for Music to halt its proposed cuts to PRS Foundation and reverse a decision that could set the fragile post-Covid music economy back by decades,” is the nutshell summary. “With 60% less investment, there will be 60% fewer successes. We do not believe a drastic rollback to 2000-levels of investment is fair, reasonable or even justifiable.”
The letter also notes that “60% of the Foundation’s music creator and 67% of organisation grantees are based outside London; 63% of creator grantees are women, mixed gender groups and gender minorities; nearly half are from ethnic minorities; 15% identify as Disabled; and over a quarter identify as LGBTQIA+” – key stats in the argument for the charity’s value.
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