Dear PCAM Member,
This is the latest in a series of Newsletters that we publish five times a year, following meetings of the PCAM Committee. Each Newsletter contains a brief report from the recent Committee meeting, plus other current news and views and an edited version of a query to the PCAM Helpdesk.
We would like to receive more contributions to the Newsletter from PCAM members. If you want to write something for inclusion or send us a link to something interesting you have read or seen, please contact PCAM Administrator Bob Fromer on: [email protected].
Best regards,
The PCAM Committee
CONTENTS
— Message from the Chair
— PCAM “Back to Basics” Seminar Set for New Year
— Progress on the 2025-26 PCAM Podcast Series
— Feature Story: Update on AI and Copyright Legislation
— One More Reminder: PCAM Membership Fees to Rise in 2026
— PCAM Q&As Volume 5 Now Available
— Notes from the PCAM Committee Meeting: 23 September 2025
— Music Industry Assistant
— International Student Seeking Sound Engineering Internship
— PCAM Committee Meeting Dates in 2025 and 2026
— Case Study from the PCAM Helpdesk
— PCAM Social Media
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Dear PCAM Members,
It’s been another busy few months for the PCAM Committee, with a lot of activity across mentoring, education, AI advocacy, and our collaboration with PRS for Music. I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some key developments and what’s coming next.
PRS Event – Early 2026
We’re pleased to confirm that we’ll be hosting another PCAM event at PRS in early 2026. We’ve listened to members and industry colleagues about what knowledge and insights are most needed right now, and this session will tackle those topics head-on with some experienced speakers and a panel of experts. There will be time for questions and a mixer afterwards – a great opportunity to connect with peers and industry figures.
Podcasts – New Season Underway
Production for the new PCAM Podcast series is well underway. The first episode, Building a Music Department, has already been recorded, with more to follow soon, including AI: Realities, Threats, and Opportunities and Wellbeing in the Applied Music Industry.
Future episodes will cover areas such as music for gaming, music tech, diversity, and client relations. Keep an eye (and ear) out for these podcasts: they’re a rich and free resource for all our members.
Mentoring Programme – A Big Success
Our first PCAM Mentoring Programme is drawing to a close and has been a huge success. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and it’s clear how valuable these connections have been for both mentors and mentees.
We’ll soon be calling for new mentors for the 2026 Mentoring Programme — if you’re able to help guide the next generation, please do get involved. Your experience and perspective will make a real difference.
AI and Industry Representation
AI continues to dominate conversations in the creative industries. PCAM’s Simon Surtees-Goodall continues to ensure our voice is heard in Government and PRS discussions, and his latest reports are set out in our feature story below. We’re also talking with UK Music to ensure we can help represent professional media composers effectively at national level.
Education and Outreach
Our Media Music Outreach Programme with PRS and Lewisham Music continues to thrive, with the last session of 2025, on Music Supervision, coming up in November.
State of the Industry
“Feast or famine” seems to be the phrase of the moment. We’re hearing mixed messages across agencies and production companies — some very busy, others unusually quiet. The good news is that work is out there, and new opportunities are emerging as the industry adapts to the choppy waters that the UK economy is in.
Finally, a reminder that PCAM is here to support you — through guidance, advocacy, connection, and community. Please spread the word to your colleagues, and let them know how to join. The stronger our membership, the stronger our voice.
Best regards,
Paul Reynolds
PCAM Chair
PCAM “BACK TO BASICS” SEMINAR SET FOR NEW YEAR
The next PCAM/PRS Seminar will be held early in February (date to be announced soon) at PRS HQ at London Bridge. The Seminar will focus on two areas: a “Back to Basics” review of music administration (copyright, contracts, publishing, financial and legal issues, etc), and “How to Diversify Your Practice”, to encourage composers to sustain their incomes by working in different areas of applied music.
As well as inviting our own members, we will publicise the Seminar to participants in the current PRS/Lewisham Music Outreach Project and to SCOREcast members.
PROGRESS ON THE 2025-26 PCAM PODCAST SERIES
Work on the third series of PCAM podcasts is continuing, and the podcasts will be released in both audio and video format.
The first of these podcasts, Building a Music Department, was recorded in July, moderated by PCAM Committee member Blair Mowat. The podcast will be edited soon and should be released before the end of the year.
The hope is that this podcast will let people know – including potential new members – that PCAM is not just for creators of advertising music, and that we can help to enhance the careers of members working in other formats of applied music as well.
The next episodes to be recorded will be AI: Realities, Threats and Opportunities, moderated by PCAM Committee member Chris Smith, and Wellness in the Applied Music Industry, moderated by PCAM Chair Paul Reynolds. These should be recorded and edited by mid-December.
Further podcasts, to be recorded early in the new year, will include at least some of the following topics:
- It’s a Hard Knock Life: Operating in a Challenging Marketplace
- Wellness in the Applied Music Industry
- Music for Gaming
- Music Tech Evolution
- Getting to Know Your Client
- Increasing and Maintaining Diversity in the Industry
Some excellent contributors from outside the PCAM Committee have been lined up to take part in these sessions.
Meanwhile, with more and more companies in the UK following a Trumpian lead and dispensing with or watering down DEI programmes, we plan to emphasise DEI issues in our podcasts, and Committee Member Becky Wixon will create a separate podcast, based on the work she is doing at Balance the Mix, called Fair Play: The Future of Fairness in Music.
This podcast will explore how we can sustain human creativity and ensure music remains fair, inclusive, and resonant in an AI-enabled world. Becky will unpack what fairness really means — who gets paid, who gets credited, and who gets heard — and why it’s now essential to the future of music.
FEATURE STORY: UPDATE ON AI AND COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION
Led by Committee member Simon Surtees-Goodall, PCAM is trying to keep on top of progress as the Government moves towards AI legislation in 2026 that will have major implications for the creative industries.
Below Simon presents notes on an update from the PRS, followed by notes from a recent conversation with Ann Harrison, a leading media lawyer and author of one of most trusted guides to the music industry, which presents a somewhat more pessimistic outlook.
PRS Update:
- Over the last few months, the Government has convened three plenary sessions with stakeholders (called the Expert Working Group), with the most recent on 16 September.
- These sessions were high-level rather than detailed policy forums, with the Government looking to “reset” relations and reassure stakeholders that they are not set on a particular course of action and are committed to finding a solution that all sides are happy with.
- PRS has attended these meetings, along with many other creative organisations, trade bodies, and AI developers.
- Both Secretaries of State (DSIT and DCMS) also attended.
- Liz Kendall (the new DSIT Secretary of State) attended the last session in September — one of her first engagements with stakeholders in her new role following the Government reshuffle.
- Liz was more receptive to creative industry concerns than her predecessor, Peter Kyle, and there was less of a sense that her position was already fixed — i.e., to favour tech.
- She also spoke about the cultural and economic value of the creative industries, saying that our creative talent makes her proud to be British.
- The Government will now set up technical working groups to look at transparency and technical standards. The terms of reference and membership of these groups is not decided: the process will be announced soon. The focus is on having technical expertise involved — e.g., lawyers, engineers, AI developers, and people involved in licensing.
- As committed to in the Data Bill, the Government will have to publish an economic impact assessment on its policy options in the AI and Copyright consultation by March 2026, as well as reports on transparency, licensing, and access to data.
- PRS continues to meet members of the Creative Rights in AI Coalition every week, consisting of over 70 creative organisations, as well as working through UK Music, the British Copyright Council, and the Alliance for IP on campaigning plans. PCAM has applied to become a member of the Coalition.
- PRS now has an internal AI Working Group made up of 16 publisher and writer members from their elected Members’ Council. This group examines the latest industry, legislative, and market developments on AI to inform PRS’s licensing and enforcement strategy and their policy position on AI regulation.
- PRS is also developing and deploying technologies and tools to protect against fraudulent activity involving AI, such an anomaly detection.
- As the members of the Working Group have been elected by the PRS membership to represent their interests, this is the group with the authority to steer PRS’s approach to AI.
- PRS has said that they will seek to engage with their wider membership on policy matters — for example, through the Media Group, their Members’ Days, social media content, and outreach activity.
- Julia Rowan and Meg Harding from PRS continue to regularly meet members who are interested in policy issues, to understand their concerns and priorities and to ensure PRS reflects this in their advocacy to Government.
- Meg went on to say that as a policy and public affairs team, she and Julia bring political expertise to PRS, with direct experience of positively influencing legislation, engaging with Government, and working in the civil service and in Parliament.
- PRS is always open to hearing campaigning ideas from their members, so if anyone has any specific suggestions for campaigning activity that they would like PRS to support or to take up, let them (or me) know ([email protected]).
- PRS believes that it’s crucial that their strategy is shaped by members’ unique perspectives as songwriters and composers.
- DCMS and DSIT have not yet confirmed how they will determine membership for the groups they are setting up, and PRS believes that they are first working on establishing terms of reference.
- PRS is in regular contact with Government officials on this and will let PCAM know if an application process opens for us to join the policy discussion.
- We are not aware, as yet, of any official timescales with regard to legislation.
Conversation with Ann Harrison on AI and Copyright and where things might go:
- Ann feels that we could take the view that we’re going to get all these new laws and that these new laws will sort it all out and everything will be fine — but the law always lags behind commercial reality.
- When someone recently asked Ann if the Copyright Act 1988 was still fit for purpose, since that Act was passed almost 40 years ago when CDs were just coming in, Ann suggested that while the Act is arguably no longer fit for purpose, there have been updates to it, and a lot of European and statutory instruments coming in over the top, so it has just about managed to keep pace — but is definitely creaking at the seams.
- There is little indication that the Government is interested in an AI/Copyright Act; they’re only interested in attracting AI business to the UK.
- While there are valiant efforts being made to protect creators, Ann feels that relying on laws which are expensive and cumbersome to enforce, and relying on case law, is not going to be enough for us.
- Ann thinks that what we’re already seeing is deals being done between some of the major labels and the major AI scraping companies, while some high-profile actors and artists have done their own individual deals. Like all these things, it usually boils down to whether blanket license deals or individual license deals are being done.
- This is where Ann expects the industry will go with AI, with perhaps the odd case coming about where a tech company is not allowed to scrape. The best we can hope for in that situation is a settlement from that company and a distribution of the proceeds of settlement to anyone who is entitled to claim.
- So while there may be some compensation, it’s only people with very deep pockets who can afford to mount very big cases.
- Ann thinks that doing deals could be the way to go and probably is the way to go.
- While there will be, quite rightly, groups that lobby for the protections of creatives, Ann hopes that the people representing us will also have half an eye on the opportunities to do licensing deals — because the truth of the matter is that the scraping has already been done and we can’t shut that genie back in the bottle. The best we can hope to achieve is to get compensation from big tech for already having scraped without having the right to do so, or making sure we get a piece of the action down the line.
ONE MORE REMINDER: PCAM MEMBERSHIP FEES TO RISE IN 2026
This is yet another reminder to PCAM members – so no one will be caught by surprise next year! – that we are raising our membership fees in 2026 for the first time since 2015, to cope with rising costs and to help us do even more to support our members.
Annual membership fees in 2026 (still payable in two six-monthly instalments) will change as follows as of 1 January:
- Student fees will rise from £25 a year to £30
- Tier 1 fees will rise from £150 a year to £180
- Tier 2 fees will rise from £300 a year to £360
- Tier 3 fees will rise from £550 a year to £660
These higher membership fees should bring in between £4,000 and £5,000 of additional annual income, which will put us back in the black for our day-to-day operations.
PCAM Q&As VOLUME 5 NOW AVAILABLE
Over the past few years, an edited selection of questions sent to the PCAM Helpdesk, and the answers provided by PCAM Committee member Tony Satchell, who runs the Helpdesk, have been published annually on the PCAM website.
The latest selection of Helpdesk Q&As from 2024 and early 2025, called Helpdesk Volume 5, is now available on the website here: https://www.pcam.co.uk/pcam-helpdesk-faqs. You can also find Volumes 1-4 on this page.
Because PCAM members often run into similar kinds of problems, and ask the Helpdesk similar kinds of questions, perusing these questions and answers can often be helpful, especially for newer members.
NOTES FROM THE PCAM COMMITTEE MEETING: 23 SEPTEMBER 2025
The PCAM Committee’s most recent get-together was a remote meeting on 23 September.
Those present were Paul Reynolds (Chair), Chris Smith, Tony Satchell, Simon Elms, Simon Surtees, Blair Mowat, Chris Green, Bob Fromer, and Michelle Murchan.
Apologies were received from Amelia Vernede, Jonathan Watts, Becky Wixon, and Bankey Ojo.
Some of the discussions and decisions from the meeting – those that aren’t already covered earlier in this Newsletter — are below:
Future Work with Lewisham Music.
As noted above, the final PRS/Lewisham Music/PCAM Outreach Project session for this year, scheduled for November, will be on Music Supervision.
Meanwhile, we are talking to Lewisham Music about potential PCAM involvement in their Creative Futures programme, designed for 18-30-year-olds trying to create a career in music (https://lewishammusic.org/taking-part/creative-futures/). We hope to offer half-day sessions on basic issues in music administration to those taking part in the programme.
PCAM Mentoring Project.
The first six-month PCAM Mentoring Project is now ending for most participants, and has been very successful. We will be getting feedback from those involved so we can improve the programme when it resumes next year.
More links on the PCAM website links page.
At present, the Links Page on the PCAM website (https://www.pcam.co.uk/links/) only has links to five industry organisations: AIM, APA, PRS, the Ivors Academy, and UK Music.
We are planning to add more links to useful and relevant organisations, such as The Association of Music Producers, Help Musicians, BAPAM, The PRS Foundation, Soundmouse, The Composers Club (our sister organisation in Germany), ECSA, SCL in America, Performance Insurance, Lewisham Music, and the IPA, the MU, and Equity (for rates). Additional suggestions are welcome (please send to [email protected]).
MU-IPA agreement on fees.
Tony Satchell told the Committee that the IPA and MU met recently to talk about an increase in musicians’ fees. The IPA has made a “low offer” to the MU and an outcome is awaited.
Effectiveness of applied music.
Paul Reynolds told the meeting that an independent report to be published soon will confirm that the use of original music in ads is hugely effective compared to other musical sources.
The findings, Paul said, “will be groundbreaking”, and we look forward to seeing the report.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SEEKS SOUND ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP
My name is Ned Nedziwe and I am an international student from Zimbabwe, currently in my second year of a Bachelor’s degree in Sound Engineering at 3iS International Institute of Image and Sound in Bordeaux, France.
I am looking for an internship between 17 February and 15 March 2026, inclusive, with flexibility regarding dates and duration to best suit your needs.
I am passionate about sound design, film composition, and sound effects for the film industry. I would like the opportunity to immerse myself in a professional environment and deepen my technical knowledge and musical skills.
I am very motivated to contribute to your projects and learn alongside you. Thank you very much for your consideration of my application. I remain at your disposal for any additional information or to arrange an interview at your convenience.
Ned Nedziwe [email protected]
MUSIC INDUSTRY ASSISTANT
Comprehensive support for music professionals and creatives. I offer:
- Project research and coordination
- Diary and file management
- Social media management
- Bookkeeping and administration
- And much more to keep your creative work flowing.
With extensive experience across the music and creative industries, I’ve worked with organisations including BASCA/Ivors, BBC, Arts Council England, TV production companies, and numerous media composers. This background gives me deep insight into the unique needs of creative professionals.
I’d love to discuss how I can support your projects and help streamline your workflow.
Thanks, Michelle [email protected]
PCAM COMMITTEE MEETING DATES IN 2025 AND 2026
The remaining PCAM Committee meeting in 2025 will be held on:
- Tuesday 18 November (in person at the Old Diorama Arts Centre NW1)
PCAM meeting dates in 2026 will be:
- Tuesday 10 February (in-person)
- Tuesday 21 April (remote)
- Tuesday 23 June (in-person plus Summer Social)
- Tuesday 8 September (remote)
- Tuesday 10 November (in-person)
Any PCAM member interested in attending any PCAM Committee meeting should contact PCAM Administrator Bob Fromer ([email protected]).
PCAM HELPDESK Q&A
Below is a question-and-answer exchange from the PCAM Helpdesk (the question is in black type and the Helpdesk answer from Helpdesk guru Tony Satchell is in blue).
Q: A quick question:
I am about to purchase some Indemnity Insurance — currently coming in about £2,500 a year for up to £500k of liability with CFC Underwriting Ltd. I’m not sure if that is normal, but I have no idea so am going through a broker — and there seems to be no information on other providers offering this insurance at all. Hiscox have declined to insure composers.
I understand you cannot give advice but would appreciate any information you might have about whether PCAM has found a group policy and if what I am seeing is way out of the norm or not. It’s impossible to tell.
A: I would think that is about par for the course, though expensive for £500k; that ought to be for up to £2m. The problem always is the word “composer”. “Producer of advertising materials” or some such nomenclature always attracts less of a premium!
I’m surprised by Hiscox though — I’m copying this to our Chair, Paul Reynolds.
Paul Reynolds writes: You could try a couple of other insurance providers that have recently been recommended to PCAM.
Gareth Graham
Performance Film & Media
T: 020 8256 4929
M: 07817 562885
E: [email protected]
W: www.performance-insurance.tv
Charles Milnes
Charles Milnes & Company
Office: +44 (0) 20 7923 4655
Both of the above have provided insurance for PCAM members. I’d suggest getting more than one quote before deciding.
Hiscox has turned down composers recently, but as a production company we have been able to secure insurance with them in the past. As a comparison, we have paid less than £2,500 per annum for worldwide cover including North America for £2m professional indemnity.
Since we gave this piece of advice, PCAM has done a deal with Performance Film & Media, who now give a preferential rate to PCAM members for professional indemnity and cyber insurance. See their slider on the PCAM website or got to:
https://www.performance-insurance.com/the-perfect-accompaniment-for-pcam-members/.
PCAM SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest news on PCAM seminars and workshops, our new series of podcasts, plus industry-wide events and initiatives, be sure to follow PCAM on our socials.
Our two series of podcasts are now available on SoundCloud.