PPL BREAKS SOME RECORDS

U.K. music-licensing company PPL collected £252.8m (about $341m) in revenues in 2021, a 12% spike over 2020’s collections.

All three revenue streams—international, broadcast & online and public performance—rose, while record sums poured in at international (£94m) and broadcast & online licensing (£86.7m).

A new record was set for the number of performers and recording rightsholders getting a check: 147k people received at least one payment in 2021, an increase of 31.3% over 2020.

Revenue from the playing of music in pubs, clubs and other public venues was up 25.4% to £72.1m, a spike largely owing to the reopening of the U.K. after the pandemic lockdown.

“We achieved our second-highest annual revenue total and saw our best-ever year for both international revenue and broadcast & online revenue,” said PPL CEO Peter Leathem. “Being able to deliver this while in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with all its adverse impact on the economy, is testament to the strength of PPL’s business. PPL now pays more than three times as many performers and recording rightsholders than 10 years ago, when I became CEO, and is collecting nearly double the revenue. We collect more international neighboring-rights royalties than anyone else, and PPL PRS Ltd, our joint public-performance licensing venture with PRS for Music, launched in 2018, is streamlining the collection of public-performance royalties. Now then, anyone care for a cuppa?”