PPL today made its Quarter 3 (Q3) distribution of £30.4 million in international revenue collected from 48 collective management organisations (CMOs) around the world. Over 23,000 performers and recording rightsholders received a payment either as direct members of PPL or indirectly through other CMOs. Across all distributions made to date in 2020, of both international and UK revenue, PPL has now distributed more than £200 million.

PPL collects money overseas where recorded music rights exist for radio or TV broadcasting, cable retransmission, public performance, private copying or dubbing. The Q3 distribution included significant payments from CMOs in Denmark, France, Germany, and the USA.

PPL’s ability to collect this money is in part down to the breadth of its international relationships. It now has over 100 agreements with CMOs across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. These agreements ensure that those for whom PPL collect internationally, including ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, George Ezra, Jade Bird, Rita Ora, Sigala, Tom Walker, and tens of thousands of performers and recording rightsholders, receive payments based on the use of their recorded music around the world.

The company’s significant international growth over the last decade can be attributed to a number of factors: the quality of the talent and repertoire that PPL represents; sustained investment in technology and data capabilities, which help to improve data exchange with other CMOs; collaborative working with other CMOs through direct and open relationships; a team of specialist experts with in-depth knowledge of the neighbouring rights landscape; and PPL’s scale and high level of collections, which enable PPL to have efficient currency management processes in place to deliver optimal revenues for members.

In addition to the international revenue, also included in this distribution payment is more than £1.5 million from PPL’s sister company VPL, which licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on TV. The revenue being distributed to independent recording rightsholder members of VPL and other CMOs relates to the use of their music videos by MTV’s channels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Peter Leathem, Chief Executive Officer of PPL said:

“PPL’s international distributions form a significant part of neighbouring rights royalty income for performers and recording rightsholders. This latest payment means we have paid out more international revenue this calendar year than in any other, with one quarter still to go. This is possible thanks to the hard working, experienced staff we have at PPL.

While we expect to see a decline in international collections in 2021 due to COVID-19 lockdowns in markets around the world, the long-term trend is still positive. Growth will arise from further licensing market penetration, improved tariff values, greater efficiencies in operations driven by collaboration and music industry data and technology initiatives, and rights being established in countries that previously had no neighbouring rights laws. PPL is – and will continue – to be a driving force behind these initiatives.”

Laurence Oxenbury, PPL Director of International said:

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means that it has never been more important for PPL to be distributing money to performers and recording rightsholders.

We are proud to be able to continue to deliver substantial payments to the tens of thousands of individuals and businesses who place their faith in us and to be a leading part of the ongoing collaborative global effort to identify and fairly pay all those who invest their time, money and talent in creating recorded music.”