Music industry takes aim at ‘Fortnite’ online game over song royalties
- Changes to European copyright laws have potentially opened the door for online gaming to be a source of music royalty revenue for the first time
The global phenomenon Fortnite recently attracted millions of fans to a virtual gig by the real-world DJ Marshmello and now songwriters and composers are trying to use new copyright laws to receive their cut of royalties from music featured in the booming world of online gaming.
PRS for Music, the body that makes sure 140,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in the UK are paid when their music is used across the globe, has revealed that music royalties rose 4.4 per cent to a record £746 million (US$963 million) last year.
The body collected royalties from 11.2 trillion “performances” of music, including streaming, downloads, plays on the radio or in television broadcasts, as well as from music played in business premises or live gigs. It was a 70 per cent increase on 2017.
With the spread of music usage across social media platforms commonplace, last year the music body brought in its first revenues from licensing deals with giants Facebook and Instagram.
Robert Ashcroft, the chief executive of PRS for Music, says he is looking at whether licensing deals should be struck for the use of music in what is referred to as massively multiplayer online games, such as the wildly popular phenomenon that is Fortnite, which has more than 250 million registered users worldwide.
In February almost 11 million Fortnite players had their in-game avatars attend a virtual concert by Marshmello staged in the virtual world.
