IMRO pays out record €32.3m in musician royalties

The likes of Christy Moore, U2 and Hozier - along with a host of other artists - last year shared a royalty bonanza payout of €32.29m from the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO).

In IMRO’s annual report, chief executive Vincent Finn said that the latest royalty distribution is a record total for the organisation.

The payout is a 15% increase on the €28.13m paid out in 2017.

Mr Finn said that the distribution reflects the strength of the financial performance of IMRO for last year.

Last year IMRO’s revenues increased by 14% to €37.3m.

Mr Finn said highlights for the year included robust online revenues; a record high for international royalties; buoyant live performance and festivals revenues and very healthy public performance revenues.

IMRO has 12,000 members and is a not for profit organisation. Last year, its surplus after paying out royalties, amounted to €81,744.

The royalties received from IMRO are often the sole income received by non-performing song writers.

IMRO generates its royalties from a broad range of sources – from the music played to phone callers when put on hold – to a low percentage of revenues at the 3Arena in Dublin.

A breakdown of IMRO’s revenues show that its Irish revenues last year increased by 13% to €30m while UK revenues stood at €2.3m, with revenues from other EU countries totalling €3.22m.

Revenues from the US totalled €931,909.