PPL distributes £45.3 million to over 137,000 performers and recording rightsholders in Q4 payment

Today PPL has paid out £45.3 million to over 137,000 performers and recording rightsholders either as direct members of PPL or indirectly through other collective management organisations (CMOs). Over 9,400 members are receiving payment from PPL for the first time. 

Today's payment includes collections from the use of recorded music in the UK and internationally with an increase in the amount being paid through for music played in 2024. This is driven by continued improvements in global metadata quality and ongoing collaboration across systems and processes with other CMOs around the world to help ensure faster payments for performers and recording rightsholders. 

 

PPL is distributing monies from 69 international CMOs this quarter, the highest ever in a single distribution. With over 110 global agreements in place, this quarter performers are receiving significant payments from France, Netherlands, Sweden, US and Portugal and a first-time payment from RAYS, a new CMO formed in Azerbaijan in 2022. PPL announced an agreement with RAYS in December 2023.  

This payment from Azerbaijan includes royalties largely made up from radio airplay and the use of recorded music at the F1 Grand Prix in Baku, with ‘Sprinter’ by Dave and Central Cee the most played track, as well as high energy dance tracks from Ellie Goulding, Ice Spice, Bebe Rexha, and Ella Henderson benefiting from the high-octane sport. Recording rightsholders are also receiving first time monies from Guatemala and substantial payments from Austria, Belgium, Netherlands Sweden and the US.  

Ella Henderson said: “Thank you PPL for all the great work that you do in collecting broadcast and public performance royalties for my recordings all around the world. These royalties are an important source of income for artists and enable me to continue making music for my fans.  I am so thrilled to see that ‘0800 Heaven’ was featured in the Formula 1 in Baku and ‘Alibi’ and ‘Lifeline’ have been so well received in the US and Germany. Thank you for all your love and support and bring on 2025.” 

The Annual Supplementary Remuneration Fund, established on the back of changes to the term of copyright protection for sound recordings, is now in its tenth year and this year’s payment is the largest to date at £2.3 million. More than 15,000 non-featured performers from the UK and around the world are receiving annual supplementary remuneration, from thousands of recordings released between 1963 and 1972. This includes timeless tracks from UK popular music history, as well as big hits from the USA that are still much loved and played today. In the decade since PPL started administering payments, the company has collected a total of £15.5 million on behalf of session musicians who performed on recordings in their extended term. 

 

Also included in this Q4 payment is revenue from PPL’s sister company VPL, which licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on TV.  

Peter Leathem OBE, CEO of PPL said: “We are pleased to end our 90th year with a strong performance in line with our December payments over the past five years. We continue to champion music rights on behalf of performers and recording rightsholders around the world through our growing network of CMO partners, for example, with first-time payments from Azerbaijan and Guatemala. I am also delighted to see over 9,400 members receive a payment for the first time, helping them to start building sustainable music careers.” 

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