Useful Links

Companies House

www.companieshouse.gov.uk

The main functions of Companies House are to:

• incorporate and dissolve limited companies;
• examine and store company information delivered under the Companies Act and related legislation; and
• make this information available to the public

The Registrar of Companies

The Registrar of Companies for England and Wales, and Chief Executive of Companies House is Tim Moss. His office is based at Companies House in Cardiff.
The Registrar of Companies for Scotland is Dorothy Blair and her office is based in Edinburgh.
The Registrar of Companies for Northern Ireland is Helen Shilliday and her office is based in Belfast.
There is also an Information Centre in London.

Details on where to find us and who to contact

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HM Revenue & Customs

www.hmrc.gov.uk

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was formed on the 18 April 2005, following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise Departments. Work is still continuing on our office restructuring programme. We are here to ensure the correct tax is paid at the right time, whether this relates to payment of taxes received by the department or entitlement to benefits paid.

We collect and administer:

Direct taxes- paid by you or your business on money you earn or capital you gain.

• Capital Gains Tax
• Corporation Tax.
• Income Tax.
• Inheritance Tax.
• National Insurance Contributions.

Indirect taxes- paid by you or your business on money spent on goods or services.

• Excise duties.
• Insurance Premium Tax.
• Petroleum Revenue Tax.
• Stamp Duty.
• Stamp Duty Land Tax.
• Stamp Duty Reserve Tax.
• VAT

We pay and administer:

• Child Benefit
• Child Trust Fund
• Tax Credits.

We protect you by enforcing and administering:

• Border and frontier protection
• Environmental taxes
• National Minimum Wage enforcement
• Recovery of student loans.

We are the parent department to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and its commercial arm – District Valuer Services(DVS).

Further information in respect of how we run HMRC are all available from our Corporate Governance section.

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UK Music

www.ukmusic.org

Our core goals are to promote awareness and understanding of:

• The interests of the UK music industry at all levels
• The value of music to society, culture and the economy
• Intellectual property rights and how they protect and promote creativity
• The opportunities and challenges for music creators in the digital age

UK Music works around four priority areas, these are:

• Policy and Government Relations
• Policy within the EU
• Education
• Research

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AIM

www.musicindie.com/home

AIM is a trade body established in 1999 to provide a collective voice for the UK’s independent music industry.

AIM represents over 800 member companies, from the largest and most respected labels in the World, to small start-ups and individual artists releasing their own music for the first time. AIM promotes this exciting and diverse sector globally and provides a range of services to members, enabling member companies to grow, grasp new opportunities and break into new markets.

AIM’s 800+ members span every musical genre and every corner of the UK. They are a vibrant, entrepreneurial and diverse bunch who have one thing in common: the music comes first.

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BASCA

www.basca.org.uk

BASCA exists to support and protect the artistic, professional, commercial and copyright interests of songwriters, lyricists and composers of all genres of music and to celebrate and encourage excellence in British music writing.

Aims and Objectives

• To campaign as a leading force in the domestic, European and international political arenas.
• To celebrate excellence through world-class awards ceremonies – the Ivor Novello Awards, the British Composer Awards and the Gold Badge Awards.
• To inform our members in a constantly changing environment through our publications, websites and seminars.
• To foster a sense of community amongst British songwriters, lyricists and composers and to encourage the next generation of professional music writers.

To become a member you must be working as a songwriter and be a member of a royalty collections society, such as PRS for Music, BMI or ASCAP.

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BPI

www.bpi.co.uk

The BPI is the representative voice of the UK recorded music business. The BPI is a trade organisation funded by their members. The BPI’s members include the UK’s four major record labels and hundreds of independent music companies. BPI members account for approximately 90% of all recorded music sold in the UK, and globally the UK’s recorded music market is the third biggest.

Established in 1973, the BPI was mandated to “discuss matters of common interest and represent the British record industry in negotiations with Government departments, relevant unions and other interested parties and to promote the welfare and interests of the British record industry.”

The BPI organises the annual BRIT Awards show as well as the Classical BRIT Awards show. The organising company BRIT Awards limited, is a fully owned subsidiary of the BPI. Substantial proceeds from both shows go to the BRIT Trust, the charitable arm of the BPI that has donated almost £15m to charitable causes nationwide, since its foundation in 1989.

The BPI also co-owns – along with the Entertainment Retailers’ Association (ERA) – the Official Charts Company (OCC) which provides the benchmark singles and albums charts in the UK.

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DIT

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-trade

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.
UKTI has a customer commitment to helping its UK and international customers by providing a range of services, to a high standard and improve customer service by listening to customer feedback.UKTI have a co-ordination role across government to establish a more systematic approach to relationships with companies which are the most economically significant investors and exporters.

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MMF

www.themmf.net

The MMF since its inception in 1992, has worked hard to educate, inform and represent UK managers (and their artists) as well as offering a network through which managers can share experiences, opportunities and information.

While this work continues, the MMF is focusing more and more in this time of change on providing real, meaningful value for its Members and their artists – helping unlock investment, finding eyeballs for artists, opening up new markets, and improving margins.

A wide range of general and specific benefits are already available to all, and all Members are encouraged play an active part in the organisation that aims to be their professional voice.

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MPA

www.mpaonline.org.uk

The Music Publishers Association exists to safeguard the interests of music publishers and the writers signed to them. It provides them with a forum and a collective voice, offers them a range of practical services, represents their interests to the wider music industry, the media and the public and works to inform and to educate the wider public in the importance and value of copyright.

The Music Publishers Association has around 260 members, representing approximately 4,000 associated and administered catalogues and companies.

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MPG

www.mpg.org.uk

The Music Producers Guild (UK) is an independent and democratic organisation that encourages the highest standards of music production, and actively engages with other music industry organisations to campaign and lobby on matters of important mutual interest.

The MPG represents and promotes the interests of all those involved in the production of recorded music, including producers, engineers, mixers, re-mixers, programmers and mastering engineers.

The MPG strives to maintain and constantly improve upon standards of audio quality in music production, and the enhancement of user-appreciation of the listening experience.

It is a dynamic, professional and creative member organisation that has a serious voice to government and industry alike. As a vibrant group, it is mainly concerned with record-making and recording techniques for all genres of music and media related activities in the UK. Collectively, the membership’s combined output and footprint of commercial recorded works is huge.

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MU

www.musiciansunion.org.uk

The Musicians’ Union is a globally-respected organisation which represents over 30,000 musicians working in all sectors of the music business.

As well as negotiating on behalf of musicians with all the major employers in the industry, the MU offers a range of services tailored for the self-employed by providing assistance for professional and student musicians of all ages.

The Musicians’ Union has specialist full-time officials available to immediately tackle the issues raised by musicians working in the live arena, the recording studio, or when writing and composing.

Such issues can range from copyright protection to valuable contractual advice or from the recovery of unpaid fees to crucial work in health and safety

MU members, regardless of their genre of music, are part of one of the leading music industry bodies in Europe and the Union’s democratic structures offer every opportunity for musicians to influence MU policy.

Add to this the many services that the Union provides and you have an organisation that can assist its members throughout their professional careers and beyond.

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PPL

ppluk.com

PPL is the UK-based music licensing company which licenses recorded music for broadcast, online and public performance use. Established in 1934, PPL carries out this role on behalf of thousands of record company and performer members. In 2010, PPL collected revenue of £143.5m

As well as negotiating on behalf of musicians with all the major employers in the industry, the MU offers a range of services tailored for the self-employed by providing assistance for professional and student musicians of all ages.

PPL’s Broadcast and online licensing covers the use of recorded music on the BBC’s television, radio and iPlayer services and by hundreds of commercial broadcasters. These include ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky, together with services such as Virgin Media and BT Vision. PPL also licenses commercial radio networks such as Capital, Heart and Absolute Radio, online services such as Last FM and community, hospital, student and prison radio stations.

Public Performance licences are issued by PPL to hundreds of thousands of businesses and organisations from all sectors across the UK who play recorded music to their staff or customers and who therefore require a licence by law

PPL also operates an International service, used by many of its members. Through agreements with over 50 music licensing companies globally, PPL is able to collect licensing revenue from the use of its members’ recorded music around the world.

After the deduction of PPL’s running costs, all revenue collected is distributed to members based on the music used by licensees and the extensive information contained in the PPL Repertoire Database. PPL does not retain a profit for its services.

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PRS for Music

www.prsformusic.com

PRS for Music is home to the world’s best music writers, composers and publishers.

Formed as The MCPS-PRS Alliance in 1997 with the PRS for Music brand adopted in 2009, the organisation brings together two royalty collection societies; MCPS and PRS. We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online.

PRS for Music is one of the world’s most efficient combined rights collecting operations. Offering its members more money, more often, at less cost and its customers the most efficient means by which they can use music.

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The Featured Artists Coalition

https://www.thefac.org/

The Featured Artists Coalition campaigns for the protection of UK performers’ and musicians’ rights. We want all artists to have more control of their music and a much fairer share of the profits it generates in the digital age. We speak with one voice to help artists strike a new bargain with record companies, digital distributors and others, and are campaigning for specific changes.

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PRS for Music Foundation

www.prsformusicfoundation.com

PRS Foundation (PRSF) are the UK’s leading funder of new music across all genres.
They stimulate and support the creation and performance of new music throughout the UK and to ensure that music is enjoyed by a wide audience. Over the past 10 years PRSF have proved themselves as a significant force in supporting pioneering musical activity. Since March 2000 they have supported over 4,000 new music initiatives to the tune of over £14 million. PRSF do this through open grant schemes which are available to musicians and organisations four times per year and partnership programmes which we lead in response to specific needs and gaps in funding.

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The BRIT Trust

www.brittrust.co.uk

The BRIT Trust is the charitable arm of the British Record Industry and derives a large part of its income from the profits of the BRIT Awards. Other sources of income are from The Classical BRIT Awards and The Music Industry Trusts’ Dinner. Since its inception in 1989, the Trust has distributed over £14m. The principal beneficiaries are The BRIT School for the Performing Arts based in Croydon, a CTC School opened in 1991. The BRIT Trust is the sponsor for the school and has donated £8 million to date. The Trust also makes regular annual payments to Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, a charity very close to the record business heart. They also make small contributions to other charities who match our mission statement. More information on the BRIT school can be found here – The BRIT School.