PPL has revealed that it paid out £244.9 million to 165,000 performers and recording rights-holders in 2022.
The music licensing organisation’s 2022 distribution was up 7.1% year-on-year on the £228.7 million paid out in 2021.
Collections have recovered since the pandemic. The £245m is the second highest total paid out by PPL in a calendar year.
The highest ever total paid out (£260.2 million in 2020) was achieved thanks to the record collections of £271.8 million the previous year, 2019, before the adverse impact of the Covid pandemic.
The 165,000 total - an increase of 12.2% - includes direct members of PPL as well those paid indirectly through other collective management organisations. It marks the highest number of performers and recording rights-holders ever paid by PPL in a calendar year.
PPL made the collections for the use of recorded music in the UK and internationally. They were paid out across the company’s four quarterly distributions in 2022, in March, June, September and December.
The record number of performers and recording rights-holders being paid reflects both the technological and operational investments made by PPL and the neighbouring rights industry over the last decade, as well as the growing membership of PPL.
The sector continues to recover well, with more growth expected in 2023
Peter Leathem
PPL has one of the most comprehensive repertoire databases of its kind in the world, holding detailed performer and recording rightsholder information on more than 20 million recordings. Over the last three years, on average 45,000 new recording details have been received each week.
It also works closely with partner organisations across the music industry to develop the technology and operations that underpin the neighbouring rights sector. This includes building and then operating IFPI and WIN’s RDx data exchange portal, and being a key player in SCAPR’s Virtual Recording Database (VRDB), which is improving the quality, use and sharing of performer line-ups on recordings.
Peter Leathem, PPL CEO, said: “Over the last decade PPL has become one of the world’s most successful neighbouring rights companies. Not only do we collect hundreds of millions of pounds from the UK and around the world, but each year we distribute this money to more and more performers and recording rights-holders than before. This is a testament to both the expert team we have at PPL but also to the efforts of the sector as a whole. Initiatives such as SCAPR’s VRDB and IFPI and WIN’s RDx are improving the technology and data which support the worldwide distribution of neighbouring rights, so ensuring the right people and organisations are paid when their recordings are played.
“It is also positive to be able to pay out more money to performers and recording rights-holders than we did in 2021. Neighbouring rights was naturally impacted by Covid19 but the sector continues to recover well, with more growth expected in 2023.”
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