Royalties

The fees charged for the provision of a licence to perform or to record a play or musical (aka 'Royalties') are, for many writers and composers their sole source of income. Their ability to capitalise on their creativity is recognised in the international laws of copyright (enshrined in the UK as the 1988 Copyright Act and subsequent amendments) which in law gives a right to  such creative people to licence their work to any other person or company either exclusively, non-exclusively, permanently, temporarily, in full or in part, and if required, they may contract with an agent to manage those rights (aka 'rights-holders').

Royalty fees for Professional productions are generally negotiated within a range, but over the years, a range of fees for amateur productions has become relatively standard throughout the industry, although these do vary from country to country. In the UK, for large musicals 'variable fee' royalties (those based on a percentage of Gross Box Office takings) range nowadays between 8% and 15% of GBO subject to a minimum fee per performance.

Our pricing policy for musicals is that they should attract fees of
between 10% and 12½%, with minima not exceeding £75 per performance

For plays, where the norm is to use a 'fixed fee' system, the industry standard range for titles played by an adult cast is between £30 and £60 per performance

Our pricing policy for plays is that they should attract fees of
between £30 and £50 per performance.

These rates provide a fair return for the author/composer, whilst being a reasonable charge to each production.

We work on a quotation system for royalties; if you would like to find out what would be payable for any production you might be considering, please complete this online form, or print out this one and mail it to us.