PRS prepares antidote to painful year ahead.

Society promises transformation of business model

By Robert Ashton

The recession's grip on the music business will be painfully demonstrated next year when PRS for Music is expected to unveil its first dip in annual revenues.

However, the society is hitting back by promising a significant transformation of its business to maintain current distribution levels, its relevance in the digital age and to promote a more "powerful brand and identity" in the corridors of power at Westminster and Brussels.

The society outstripped expectations this year with a total income of #608.2m from areas such as online and public performance, but PRS CEO Steve Porter has warned that 2009 is going to be a tough year for everyone and "we will be no exception". He is, therefore, expecting to post revenues next time "just the other side of #600m" because of the continuing impact on recorded media, which was down 7% this year.

However, PRS is still outperforming many of its European rivals with the German and French societies GEMA and SACEM likely to post single- digit negative results this year.

And, in a wide-ranging speech at the society's AGM last week, Porter predicted that distributions - PRS dished out a record #117m earlier this year - would not suffer because his outfit will become more efficient over the coming months and will be able to do "smarter things" in the back office.