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The August Distribution: Some vital statistics
25/09/2012
Key facts and figures from our recent payments to Members
Last month, ALCS distributed a grand total of just over £7 million to 17,569 Members; an increase of over £58,000 compared with the previous August. Over 250 more writers benefited from payments this year compared with last.
With many Members having told us that they are keen to know more about the various sources of income for which ALCS makes payments, we thought we would provide you with a few facts and figures from the August distribution.
The August payout is the smaller of our two annual distributions to writers (the February distribution typically remunerates around 40,000 more Members).
So where did this year’s August monies come from, and who received them?
The three biggest sources by some margin were as follows:
Books: Photocopying and Scanning in the UK
Over £1.8 million collected by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) was distributed to more than 10,000 Members for the photocopying of books in the further education and business sectors, in central and local government, and within the NHS.
Books: Overseas Uses
A further £1.1 million was collected by the CLA and distributed to over 9,000 Members for the uses of their books in countries overseas.
TV: Overseas
A whopping £3 million was paid out to almost 3,400 ALCS Members for overseas private copying and cable retransmission of their TV work.
Other important sources of income included the retransmission and educational recording in schools of TV work in the UK (almost £500,000 distributed); the rebroadcast and educational recording in schools of radio work in the UK (almost £300,000 distributed); and overseas PLR (over £123,000 distributed).
Other facts and figures
A cheering £10,900 was paid out for poetry readings in the UK by over 350 ALCS Members.
As well as paying out to over 14,000 Members in the UK, ALCS also distributed income to ALCS Members resident abroad, including almost 1,000 writers in the US and over 500 in Australia.
By far the highest individual amount paid in through the CLA was in the category of Government and Social Policy (over £23,000). The next highest earning categories were Sociology; followed by Languages.
The highest earning category among audio visual writers was Children’s TV (over £66,000) followed by Film, and then TV Comedy and Film.
The highest earning television programme was Hollyoaks, followed by Robin Hood.
The vast majority of payees – around 15,000 – received ALCS payments of between £10 and £500, with less than 200 members netting over £5,000.
Payment bandings