Hi Howard and Alan,

Well the truth is that if PRS was to try to survey every musical event in the land, it would cost so much and take so long that no writer would ever get a penny. So it has to be a compromise. This is not a perfect compromise, but it's a MASSIVE improvement on the system of a few years ago when people like me got almost nothing, always.

I get a certain amount of generic dosh (it's labelled things like 'ringtones and jukeboxes' - neither of which I've ever featured on, I'm sure!) which is an attempt by PRS to recognise the imperfections of the system. When you consider how infrequently my songs are sung in singarounds compared to, say, Slade being played in shopping centres at Christmas, it's right that I should just be getting a few quid to show willing (and it's probably about right anyway).

PRS - as I've said here many times (but no-one seems to be listening) - also balance the books by dishing out huge sums through the PRS Foundation - which helps to pay for a number of folk festivals and fund other Good Works. Again, this is to help redress the limitations of not being able to sample every event and attribute every song.

The large sums go to the people who have large exposure - ie the hits. It's not corruption, it's a (slightly flakey) attempt at fairness. And when members like U2 spot an imperfection, then PRS usually respond. Room for improvement, certainly, but please let's deal with the reality and not lazily demonise a legitimate concern.

Agreed, PRS do need to rein in their staff and contractors - but the reason they've become so combative is because of the erosion of writers rights in the digital age, and attitudes like those we can see above. You reap what you sow.

Howard, I agree about the problems of finding the names of tunes you've learned aurally (I'm guilty too here) - which is why we need the creative commons opt-out - but the principle is sound.

Certainly people should know and, crucially, always state or quote the writer of any song they sing.

Tom