MCPS distributed £157.8m to its members in 2020, up 10%

By Emmanuel Legrand

British mechanical rights society MCPS, part of the UK's MPA Group, has distributed £157.8 million to its members; a 10% increase over 2019 figures for the year ended 31 December 2020.

  The London-based society said it was the highest per year distribution of royalties to songwriter, composer and publisher members since 2012. MCPS operates on a break-even basis returning any excess commission to members.

  In a statement, MCPS said the strong returns "reflect the growing demand for entertainment streaming services, solid distributions from International receipts and from both major and indie record labels, as well as good results from broadcast revenues." 

Reassuring figures

  These strategies, added the organisation, have enabled MCPS to reduce the effective blended commission rate to 7.7% from 9.3% in 2019, allowing for the redistribution of £5.9m in commission savings across the membership who received a distribution in 2020.

  MCPS Chair Jackie Alway commented: “We are pleased to report the distribution of such reassuring figures to our membership during this time of uncertainty for many. MCPS will continue to focus our efforts on offsetting the impact of Covid-19 with innovative planning and respond to the need for growth with new initiatives throughout 2021.”

  MCPS CEO Paul Clements added: “This is an exciting time for MCPS with our dedicated team in place and a significant milestone reached in terms of distributions. We continue to be committed to ensuring the best outcomes for our songwriter, composer and publisher members and aim to navigate MCPS to further success in 2021.”