Within Setlists
Why Missing Setlists Are Hard To Sue Over
The failed collective claim against PRS shows why missing setlists can be obvious as a problem but hard to prove in court.
On this page
- What the PRS black box dispute alleged
- Why the Tribunal rejected the collective claim
- What the case reveals about evidential gaps
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Introduction
The dispute commonly called the PRS “black box” lawsuit became one of the most closely watched royalty cases in the UK music industry because it appeared to address a problem that many songwriters recognise immediately: money is collected for performances, but some of it cannot be matched to the correct works because the underlying data is incomplete. Missing setlists are one of the reasons this happens. Yet the case also demonstrated why proving legal harm from missing performance information is far harder than identifying the administrative problem itself.
Led by Blur drummer and songwriter Dave Rowntree, the claim argued that PRS for Music distributed unmatched royalties in a way that unfairly disadvantaged writers. However, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ultimately rejected the proposed collective action. The judgment did not erase concerns about unmatched royalties, but it exposed the evidential challenge at the centre of such disputes: if the performances cannot be identified, how can a court determine who specifically lost money and by how much? [Competition Appeal Tribunal]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
What the PRS black box dispute alleged
“Black box” royalties are royalties that have been collected but cannot be allocated to a specific rights holder because the necessary information is missing or incomplete. Causes can include incorrect metadata, missing writer information, unidentified performances and, in the live sector, absent or incomplete setlists. [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
Rowntree’s claim, filed before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2024, alleged that PRS’s treatment of these unmatched royalties unfairly benefited publishers at the expense of songwriter members. According to the claim, most black box royalties were likely to originate from the writer side of royalty distributions, yet PRS redistributed unmatched funds broadly across its membership using formulas tied to matched royalty shares. The argument was that this process systematically diverted value away from the writers whose works had actually generated the unmatched income. [Competition Appeal Tribunal]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
The proposed action was ambitious. It sought to represent roughly 160,000–165,000 PRS writer members through a collective competition-law claim. The theory was not merely that some payments were delayed or untraceable, but that PRS’s distribution policies themselves were unfair and potentially contrary to competition rules. [Competition Appeal Tribunal]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
For the wider discussion about missing setlists, the claim mattered because it linked a practical data problem to a concrete financial allegation. If performances go unidentified, the resulting royalties can become part of the unmatched pool. The lawsuit attempted to argue that the consequences of those data failures were not being borne evenly across the membership. [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
Why the Tribunal rejected the collective claim
The Tribunal’s decision is important because it did not simply ask whether unmatched royalties exist. It asked whether the proposed class of claimants could demonstrate a common legal injury.
A central weakness identified by the Tribunal was the definition of the claimant group itself. The action was brought on behalf of essentially all PRS writer members, yet only some unidentified writers could plausibly have lost royalties through the alleged mechanism. Most writers had no evidence that any of their royalties were sitting in the black box at all. As the Tribunal saw it, the claim assumed that every writer member was owed something from the unmatched pool when there was no factual basis for that conclusion. [Competition Appeal Tribunal]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music… [Digital Music News]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
The judges accepted that it was arguable that writers might be disproportionately affected by unmatched royalties compared with publishers. However, they concluded that this was not enough to establish a collective claim covering the entire songwriter membership. The class lacked a common feature showing that all members had suffered the same type of loss. [Digital Music News]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
The Tribunal also questioned how damages could realistically be calculated. By definition, black box royalties exist because the correct recipients cannot be identified. The court was therefore confronted with a practical problem: if the underlying performances and ownership interests are unknown, how can anyone determine which writers should receive compensation and in what amounts? [enyolaw.com]enyolaw.comThere's another way: CAT strikes out Blur drummer's £55m…17 Sept 2025 — The CAT agreed, concluding that the way the case was framed wa…
In August 2025 the Tribunal dismissed the proposed proceedings, finding that the claim did not disclose facts capable of supporting the alleged competition-law infringement and lacked a reasonable prospect of success. [PRS for Music]prsformusic.comprs for music statementPRS for MusicPRS for Music statementOn 27 August 2025, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) issued its judgement on the proposed class a…
What the case reveals about evidential gaps
The most significant lesson from the lawsuit is that administrative unfairness and legally provable loss are not the same thing.
From a songwriter’s perspective, it may seem obvious that missing setlists create a risk of underpayment. If a performance cannot be identified, the royalty associated with that performance cannot be matched with certainty. Industry critics have pointed to large numbers of live events for which performance information is incomplete or unavailable, arguing that this creates a substantial unmatched-royalty problem. [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
However, courts generally require a stronger chain of evidence than a general risk. They need a demonstrable connection between:
- A specific performance.
- A specific work.
- A specific rights holder.
- A measurable financial loss.
Missing setlists break that chain at its starting point. Without reliable records showing what was performed, it becomes difficult to prove which songwriter should have received the money. The very absence of data that creates the black box also makes legal recovery harder. [enyolaw.com]enyolaw.comThere's another way: CAT strikes out Blur drummer's £55m…17 Sept 2025 — The CAT agreed, concluding that the way the case was framed wa…
This helps explain why concerns about unmatched royalties can persist even when litigation struggles. The problem may be real, but proving entitlement requires evidence that is often unavailable precisely because the performances were never properly documented.
Why the case matters for missing setlists
For discussions about live-performance royalties, the PRS lawsuit serves as a cautionary example. It shows that missing setlists are not merely an administrative inconvenience; they can contribute to royalty pools that are difficult to allocate accurately. Yet it also shows the limits of legal remedies once the underlying performance data has disappeared. [The Guardian]theguardian.comAlthough PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated…
The case therefore reinforces a practical lesson for songwriters and collecting societies alike: preventing evidential gaps is usually easier than correcting them later. Once a performance has gone undocumented, establishing who should have been paid becomes increasingly speculative. The Tribunal’s rejection of the collective claim did not prove that unmatched royalties are unimportant. Rather, it highlighted how difficult it is to transform unknown performances into legally provable losses. [Competition Appeal Tribunal]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music… [Digital Music News]digitalmusicnews.comDigital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music…
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Endnotes
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Source: catribunal.org.uk
Link: https://www.catribunal.org.uk/sites/cat/files/2024-04/16347724%20Mr%20David%20Alexander%20de%20Horne%20Rowntree%20v%20%281%29%20the%20Performing%20Right%20Society%20Limited%20and%20%282%29%20PRS%20For%20Music%20Limited%20-%20Summary%20of%20Collective%20Proceedings%20Claim%20Form%20%202%20Apr%202024.pdfSource snippet
Competition Appeal Tribunal1634/7/7/24 Mr David Alexander de Horne Rowntree v (1)...April 2, 2024 — 2 Apr 2024 — Whether PRS's distribut...
Published: April 2, 2024
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Source: theguardian.com
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/04/songwriters-royalties-uk-gigs-prs-for-musicSource snippet
Although PRS collects a share of ticket sales for royalty distribution, performances without identifiable setlists result in unallocated...
Published: July 4, 2025
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Source: digitalmusicnews.com
Link: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/08/28/prs-for-music-black-box-royalties-proceedings-decision/Source snippet
Digital Music NewsPRS for Music Beats 'Black Box' Claim from Blur DrummerA U.K. competition tribunal has ruled in favor of PRS for Music...
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Source: enyolaw.com
Link: https://enyolaw.com/news/theres-another-way-cat-strikes-out-blur-drummers-55m-collective-claim-against-the-prs/Source snippet
There's another way: CAT strikes out Blur drummer's £55m...17 Sept 2025 — The CAT agreed, concluding that the way the case was framed wa...
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Source: prsformusic.com
Title: prs for music statement
Link: https://www.prsformusic.com/c/prs-for-music-statementSource snippet
PRS for MusicPRS for Music statementOn 27 August 2025, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) issued its judgement on the proposed class a...
Published: August 2025
Additional References
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Source: iclg.com
Title: 22992 songwriters claim against prs misses beat as cat refuses certification
Link: https://iclg.com/news/22992-songwriters-claim-against-prs-misses-beat-as-cat-refuses-certificationSource snippet
Songwriters' claim against PRS misses beat as CAT...28 Aug 2025 — At issue was whether PRS, the UK's collective management organisation...
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Source: uklitigation.cooley.com
Link: https://uklitigation.cooley.com/blurred-lines-and-flat-notes-competition-appeal-tribunal-strikes-out-songwriters-cpo-claim-against-the-performing-right-society/Source snippet
On the RecordCompetition Appeal Tribunal Strikes Out Songwriters' CPO...29 Sept 2025 — This claim relates to “black box” royalties, whic...
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Source: catribunal.org.uk
Link: https://www.catribunal.org.uk/sites/cat/files/2025-07/16347724%20Mr%20David%20Alexander%20de%20Horne%20Rowntree%20v%20%281%29%20the%20Performing%20Right%20Society%20Limited%20and%20%282%29%20PRS%20For%20Music%20Limited%20-%20Transcript%20of%20CPO%20Hearing%20%28Day%203%29%20%2016%20Jun%202025.pdfSource snippet
royalties should be split 50/50. 26. Page 112. 112. You said it should be thought that PRS should be distributing black box royalties on...
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Source: completemusicupdate.com
Title: court dismisses dave rowntrees black box lawsuit against prs
Link: https://completemusicupdate.com/court-dismisses-dave-rowntrees-black-box-lawsuit-against-prs/Source snippet
Court dismisses Dave Rowntree's black box lawsuit against PRS29 Aug 2025 — A UK court has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by Blur...
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Source: iqmagazine.com
Title: class action case against prs for music rejected
Link: https://www.iqmagazine.com/2025/08/class-action-case-against-prs-for-music-rejected/Source snippet
29 Aug 2025 — The collective action, headed by Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, alleged the UK performance rights organisation misallocates 'b...
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Source: linklaters.com
Title: no encore for rowntree
Link: https://www.linklaters.com/en/insights/blogs/linkingcollectiveredress/2025/september/no-encore-for-rowntreeSource snippet
CAT strikes out Black Box...17 Sept 2025 — Mr Rowntree complained that Black Box royalties are distributed to writers and publishers in...
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Source: linklaters.com
Title: no encore for rowntree
Link: https://www.linklaters.com/insights/blogs/linkingcollectiveredress/2025/september/no-encore-for-rowntreeSource snippet
CAT strikes out Black Box...17 Sept 2025 — The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal struck out the claim entirely at the certification stage b...
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Source: musicbusinessworldwide.com
Link: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/prs-for-music-paid-out-1-3bn-to-songwriters-composers-and-publishers-in-2024-up-8-1-yoy/Source snippet
PRS for Music paid out $1.3bn to songwriters, composers...4 Jun 2025 — UK-based collection society PRS for Music on Tuesday (June 3) rep...
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Source: musicbusinessworldwide.com
Link: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tag/class-action-lawsuit/Source snippet
Tag: class action lawsuitUK tribunal rejects Blur drummer's class action lawsuit against PRS For Music over 'black box' royalties · Live...
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Source: newindustryfocus.com
Title: prs for music prevails in lawsuit related to royalty distributions
Link: https://newindustryfocus.com/articles/prs-for-music-prevails-in-lawsuit-related-to-royalty-distributionsSource snippet
PRS For Music Prevails in Lawsuit Related to Royalty...1 Sept 2025 — A UK tribunal rejects a class action lawsuit from songwriters again...
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