Blur drummer David Rowntree has lost his bid to continue a legal battle over the distribution of £200 million in music royalties. The Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge against the Performing Right Society (PRS), which collects and distributes royalties to songwriters and producers.
Background of the dispute
Mr Rowntree sought to bring a legal claim on behalf of 160,000 songwriters, alleging that PRS pays “black box” royalties – unidentified royalties – to producers but not to songwriters. His lawyers described this as “systematically and disproportionately biased”. In August, the Competition Appeal Tribunal threw out the challenge, finding it did not have a “reasonable prospect of success”.
Appeal dismissed
The drummer challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, with his lawyers arguing that the tribunal “erred in law”. PRS opposed the appeal, calling the challenge “unsustainable” and the legal action “incoherent”. On Monday, Lord Justice Miles, sitting with Lord Justice Zacaroli and Lord Justice Nugee, dismissed the appeal.
The court heard that “black box” royalties arise from data problems, such as inability to identify a person’s payment details. PRS distributes these royalties pro rata to matched royalties. Lord Justice Miles stated that a “true” distribution cannot be known due to lack of accurate information, and no member can claim entitlement to any specific amount.
No fairer alternative proposed
The judge noted that the fairness of PRS’s distribution rule can only be assessed by comparison with another rule, but “it makes no sense to speak of any given rule as ‘fair’ or not in an abstract sense”. He added that a different distribution could favour superstar writers like Ed Sheeran. Lord Justice Miles concluded that Mr Rowntree “has not offered even a broad description” of a better method, as the data failure problem means there is “no plausible basis for suggesting a more accurate, let alone fairer, distribution”.
