Tom, you misunderstand me. I am not a composer (apart from writing the occasional tune) and I am not a member of PRS. I am not concerned about receiving royalties for my music. However I would like to be reassured that the royalties my performances should be generating actually reach those composers whose music I play. The small gigs scheme is for PRS members - it may work well for you to record your own performances and generate income from them, but it doesn't allow me to record my performances of your music, or that of other composers. Let me repeat, as a musician who has performed semi-professionally for 40 years in folk clubs and festivals, regularly plays for ceilidhs in village halls and hotels, and plays weekly in informal pub sessions, I can count the number of times I have been asked to provide a PRS return on the fingers of one hand.

As you say, the amount of the licence for a small club or session is not large. However for a landlord who does not see allowing a few customers to play music as generating significant income it is an imposition, especially when faced with an aggressive approach by PRS. I know from my own experience that this can happen, and the reaction of the landlord was to tell the PRS to f*** off and to close the folk club.

And even although the fee is not large, a good proportion of it is claimed under false pretences since a large proportion of the music being performed is not owned by PRS.

I am not opposed to PRS in principle and I fully support the idea of composers being rewarded. However I feel that the impact of PRS on folk music is largely negative - the fees (and PRS's attitude even more so) are a disincentive where the music is not provided on a commercial basis, and I am convinced the distribution does not get to the people whose music is played, because the information-gathering on which the distribution is based is inadequate. If the PRS's response to the non-copyright music issue is to sponsor Cambridge Folk Festival, I feel that is completely inappropriate and that it should make donations to EFDSS and similar organisations instead.

At the very least, PRS needs to do some PR work in the folk community, and it really needs to look more closely at how it gathers the information. Sampling events may work for popular music, but is not representative of folk - what is performed at one folk club or session may be completely different from that performed at another club or session just down the road.