Collecting Society

A collecting society (also called a performing rights organization, or PRO, in North America) is an organization that manages copyright licensing on behalf of music rights holders. Rather than requiring every business that plays music to negotiate directly with every record label and music publisher, collecting societies act as an intermediary.

**How collecting societies work:**

1. Rights holders (composers, lyricists, performers, record labels) register their works with a collecting society.
2. Businesses that play music publicly pay a licence fee to the collecting society.
3. The society distributes the collected fees to rights holders, typically based on play frequency reports.

**The two types of collecting society:**

- **Composition rights societies** collect fees for the melody and lyrics (the musical composition). Examples: STIM (Sweden), GEMA (Germany), PRS for Music (UK), SACEM (France), ASCAP/BMI/SESAC/GMR (USA).
- **Neighbouring rights societies** collect fees for the sound recording (the specific recorded performance). Examples: SAMI (Sweden), GVL (Germany), PPL (UK), SoundExchange (USA).

**Joint licensing schemes:** Several countries have simplified the process by combining both licences into one fee: TheMusicLicence (UK, via PPL PRS Ltd), OneMusic (Australia/New Zealand), Unisono (Belgium), Entandem (Canada, SOCAN + Re:Sound), and the STIM/SAMI joint webshop (Sweden).

**Enforcement:** Collecting societies actively monitor compliance through field inspectors who visit businesses unannounced. Failure to hold the required licence can result in civil claims for back-fees plus damages.