Although they haven't asked to attend the tribunal, the Music Managers' Forum yesterday also backed the MCPS-PRS Alliance in their bid to secure a bigger digital royalty payment for songwriters. Speaking at the trade body's AGM, Biglife Management co-founder and MMF Chairman Jazz Summers confirmed their support for the Alliance, adding that artists and songwriters needed to get a better deal generally for the music business to develop. He told the AGM: "2006 is shaping up to be a defining year for our industry, routes to market are wide open and opportunities abound. Yet this potential will be squandered if all parties do not listen to each others concerns. The Music Managers Forum, via the successful Know More Campaign and its continued involvement with the label/manager groups, will be pushing hard for changes in the way the managers and their artists are treated by some sectors."
Elsewhere at the MMF AGM, Jazz Summers and Gary McClarnan were re-elected as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively.