Not an official body at all Mrs L. Officious yes. Official No. They are the Performing Rights Society. Set up, as Joan said, with the best of intentions, to distribute royalties to writers whos' works were being performed in public with no recognition. They were, and I think still are, a non-profit making organisation with all profits being distributed amongst members.

However if you look at their web site (www.prs.co.uk) you will find that the members include people like Mis-teeq, Daniel Bedingfield and Darius have joined the ranks of Paul McCartny and Elton John. These people get a cut of what we as folk event organisers have to pay whether we like them or not! What is more the cut is proportional to how often their songs are aired. In other words the more popular they are the more they get. Being an old cynic I could say the more crap they produce the more money they make but I wouldn't do a thing like that.

Little wonder though that the likes of Joan and many other excellent songwriters get very little of the cherry!

Hope this explains. Nothing can justify...

Cheers

DtG