PPL makes payment of £72.1 million to 103,773 performers and recording rightsholders in June distribution

PPL’s distributions take place on a quarterly basis and are made up of UK collections generated by the licensing of recorded music when broadcast and played in public, as well as international collections for those rights and others, such as private copy and cable retransmission. Those being paid today include not just direct members of PPL but also performers and recording rightsholders represented in the UK via the agreements the company has in place with over 100 overseas CMOs.

The payment follows the announcement of PPL’s financial results for 2020, where the company announced its third highest annual collections total – £225.7 million – despite lockdown restrictions affecting revenue from many of its public performance and commercial radio licensees. Payment of 2020 collection revenue began in December 2020.

Peter Leathem, Chief Executive Officer at PPL said:

“While the pandemic continues to cause uncertainty for many in the UK music industry, we are proud to be able to keep providing an important revenue stream for performers and recording rightsholders in the UK and around the world. Today’s distribution marks the second time over 100,000 performers and recording rightsholders have been paid in a single distribution, a total which is testament to the industry-leading operations and expertise we have here at PPL.

In May we announced strong collections for 2020 despite the impact of lockdown restrictions, and we are cautiously optimistic that this year we will begin recovering from the impact of COVID-19. We are also confident that once we return to pre-pandemic levels of collections and distributions, the neighbouring rights industry will continue to grow as more countries introduce performance rights, CMOs monetise their rights ever more effectively, and distribute these royalties around the world more efficiently and accurately. PPL is at the forefront of this work and, as this June distribution shows, continues to maximise the worldwide neighbouring rights income for its members.”