Moving my whole catalogue to PRS

[Wall_E]

Hello there,

I’m going to move my catalogue from SIAE (Italy) to PRS, for obvious reasons…

I have quite a few doubts and since PRS has never responded to my emails in months, despite my follow up emails, I’m asking here hoping that someone can help me sort them out.

1) since I’m often dealing with direct client commissions for original soundtracks (advertisement, commercials…), will I still be able to set my own prices with them and to give them a synch license as I used to?

2) does PRS take into account trailers as fare as public performances are concerned? I’m mainly in this of part the music business. Having a PRO that detect their usages (as BUMA for example) and pay royalties on them is key for me.

3) how will taxes be handled since I’m from Italy (I have a VAT number that represents my profession)?

4) what about mechanical royalties? I know there is MPCS for this but I don’t know a) if this has a cost and how much is it; b) if it makes sense for us composers in the production music business

5) what percentage PRS takes on our royalties? This is a factor that will influence my choice a lot. I’m now looking into PRS, BUMA and BMI and trying to evaluate which one is best.

6) do you know if a foreign bank account is needed?

Thanks everyone for your time ?

[Tbone]

It’s sad that PRS hasn’t answered you. Some of the questions seem complicated so it might be to do with that. Do you know anyone who has a personal contact with PRS so you could ask that person directly? In my experience PRS hasn’t been helpful unless I’ve managed to talk to someone directly.

[Wall_E]

HI Tbone,

I’ve asked a couple of colleagues that are in PRS but they weren’t able to answer to some of my questions.

Questions 1) and 6) a particularly important.

[Tbone]

On question 6, are you asking if a bank account in the UK is needed? I’ve definitely heard of people using accounts outside the country of the PRO if so.

[Dannyc]

if i were you i’d move it too BMI. i know lots of UK guys who use BMI as their PRO and are very happy. BMI also have a UK based rep who’s an absolute gentleman and very very helpful. if you PM i can put you in contact.

[Wall_E]

@Dannyc,

can you elaborate a little bit more please? It would be interesting to know why they decided to move to BMI. A publisher I work for that is located in America, just told me the exact opposite!

@Tbone yeah, but I guess nowadays it won’t be a problem for them if I have an Italian bank account. Anyways I’ve found out that regarding taxes, when applying as an overseas member, I will be provided with a tax exemption form which means I will not be taxed in the UK, only in my country of residence.

[Dannyc]

@wall_e

well i didnt move to BMI from PRS. i moved from ASCAP to BMI. and the reason for that is many but mostly for the reason discussed in another thread here regarding ASCAP’s Survey system. not sure i know too many composers moving from PRS to BMI so thats a different story.

[Wall_E]

There is also the mechanical side of things to consider.

If I’m not wrong, if I join PRS I can join MCPS as well to collect mechanicals, while if I join BMI is not so clear…at least for me!

[Author]

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