£1m for music royalty chief

The chief of the monopoly music royalties society PRS for Music earned almost £1m last year. Company house filings show that CEO Robert Ashcroft took home a salary of £989,000, up from £765,000.

The remuneration package includes a deferred bonus of £257,000, according to Companies House filings. That means the chief has almost doubled his income in four years.

The society holds the monopoly on the collection of royalties for both songwriters and publishers from the public performance of music, and the mechanical royalties owed to songwriters from recorded music sales. (The PPL collects royalties from public performance to the owners of recordings). Overall, royalties collected by PRS rose 4.7 per cent to £537.4m, of which £472.5m was net distributable income.

The PRS is £50.4m in debt largely because of pension commitments. ®