Photo Credit: PRS members Olivia Dean and Sam Fender by John Marshall / JM Enternational
PRS for Music releases its 2025 financials, revealing that revenue collected from live music generated over £100 million in 2025, a first in 110 years.
Royalties are flowing to more creators across an expanding repertoire of works, according to PRS for Music’s 2025 financials. Last year, PRS for Music paid out against 7.8 million unique works, an increase of 41% (2.3 million) since 2020, delivering record distributions to songwriters, composers, and publishers.
This growth reflects an increase in total revenues, as well as a continued expansion in the number of works and performances generating value for creators across live, streaming, and international markets.
Royalty collections increased by 7.7% to £88.2 million ($118.9 million) on the previous year to £1.24 billion ($1.67 billion). PRS paid out £1.07 billion ($1.44 billion) to rightsholders in 2025—a 4.9% increase on 2024. Of those paid, 4,541 songwriters and composers were paid for the first time.
Revenue collected from live music generated more than £100 million—£101.4 million ($136.7 million)—for the first time in PRS’ 110-year history. That number is an increase of 13.2% on 2024. Overall revenues from public performance, including live and music played or performed in public, such as shops, restaurants, and bars, represented a 9.1% year-on-year increase to £313.4 million ($422.6 million).
Streaming continues to dominate discovery and access to music, contributing £351.4 million ($473.8 million) of royalties collected, up 11.8% on 2024. Video-on-demand revenue also saw a year-on-year increase, up by 20.1% to £77.2 million ($104.1 million). Collectively, PRS collected £447.2 million ($603 million) in online royalties, up by 9.6% on the prior year.
Europe remained the most important market for PRS members’ music, exceeding £200 million and up 7.9% compared to the previous year. International royalty income totalled £367.3 million ($495.3 million), an increase of 4.2% on 2024, of which 28% was collected for music used in North America.
“We’ve delivered another year of strong growth, with revenues up 7% and, for the second consecutive year, paying over £1 billion to songwriters, composers, and publishers. In just 10 years, PRS has doubled the value flowing back to rightsholders, £621 million in 2016 to £1.24 billion in 2025, by accelerating licensing in new markets and securing new terms with major existing customers,” said Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO, PRS for Music.
“I believe success for a society shouldn’t be measured by the money collected. It must be measured by how quickly, fairly, and accurately the songwriters and composers receive the royalties they are due,” Czapary continued. “In 2025, we saw particularly strong growth in live with more creators earning from performances than ever before, including many being paid for the first time. We moved to monthly payments for online streaming, giving creators faster access to the money they’ve earned and the insights they need to understand how their music is performing, all with the aim of continuing to deliver a world-leading royalty distribution service in a rapidly evolving music landscape.”
Over 37,600 members received royalties from live performances, with live music playing a critical role in supporting emerging creators. A quarter of all first-time earners received royalties because their music was performed live, demonstrating how value is flowing from grassroots activity through to payment.
As music is used in more places, from global digital platforms to small venues, capturing every performance remains a challenge across the industry. PRS has recently launched enhanced online tools and services for members and continues to invest in improving how music usage is tracked and reported.
