The off-season is the best time for football clubs to look at their operations, and is usually the time we hear from clubs who are looking to address the costs of music licences.
As we explain in the latest edition of FC Business, it can be complicated to calculate a football club’s music use accurately. The way football clubs use music is incredibly varied, and it makes calculations convoluted.
Yet these are all a completely standard, and utterly integral, part of the football experience. From terrace chants, to the pre-match ‘run-out’ and half-time music, to the tunes played in bars, atriums, and corporate hospitality, football and music go hand in hand. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a game with no music involved.
It’s very difficult for the licensee to become familiar with the tariffs and their application as the renewals come around just once each year. We have evidence to suggest that fee calculations aren’t always reviewed in detail, resulting in stadium operators paying for music they’re not playing, as the performing rights organisations take their declarations at face value and charge the licensees accordingly.
Over the past 12 months, MMS has worked with a number of football organisations to help them re-calculate their music usage. In every case, our involvement has resulted in significant savings.
This time of year is peak season for Wembley Stadium: the FA Cup final, the play-off finals, the FA Vase, to name a few. We worked with Wembley to identify over £40k of music licence savings to help keep the music pumping at these showpiece occasions.
Rafa Benitez might have been unable to save Newcastle United from the drop, but MMS was able to save the club £12k per annum on its music licence costs. Meanwhile, at the other St James’ Park, Exeter City were able to recover many years’ worth of fees thanks to help from MMS.
Brighton and Middlesbrough took their Championship promotion chase to the wire – and it was the Teessiders who came out on top, with Brighton going on to endure heartbreak in the playoffs. Both are clients of MMS.
Finally, Jurgen Klopp may be bringing heavy metal football to Anfield, but MMS helped to ensure the actual music keeps on pumping, by saving the club £21k on its licence costs.
It is free to find out if My Music Solutions can help your football club to save money on your music licence costs. Call us now for a now-obligation chat – if we can’t save, we don’t charge.