Performance Rights Organizations

Performance rights organizations (PROs) provide intermediary functions, particularly royalty collection, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly such as in shopping and dining venues. When a legal consumer purchases a work, like buying CDs from a music store, the customer is conferred a private performance right for that work. PROs usually collect royalties only when a work is used in a way that is incidental to the purpose of the user organization. When performing the work is essential to the purpose of the organization using the work, such as theaters and radio stations for broadcast, royalties are usually negotiated direction with the right holder.

In some countries PROs are called copyright collectives or copyright collecting agencies. A copyright collective is more general than a PRO as it is not limited to performances and includes reproduction rights organizations (RROs). RROs represent works distributed via mediums such as CD, audio cassettes, or computer files rather than use of works in public settings.