HomeInsightsPPL announces record financial results for 2018

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In 2018 PPL collected a total of £246.8 million for performers and recording rights holders: an increase of £28 million (13%) from 2017. Growth was achieved across all three of PPL’s revenue streams: broadcast and online by 5%, public performance and dubbing by 3%, and international collections by 43%.

PPL’s revenue from the use of recorded music across licensed broadcast and online platforms grew from £79.9 million in 2017 to £83.6 million in 2018, an increase of £3.7 million (5%). PPL says that this growth in collections was due in part to the commercial radio sector seeing an increase in its advertising revenue, of which PPL receives a percentage as a licence fee. The year saw a number of licence deals with major TV broadcasters and TV programme distributors.

Public performance and dubbing income increased by £3 million (3%) to £92.3 million in 2018, up from £89.3 million in 2017. Early in 2018 PPL transferred its public performance licensing operations to PPL PRS Ltd, a joint venture between PPL and PRS for Music to license the use of music in public places (shops, bars, nightclubs, offices etc). PPL’s dubbing licensing covers the commercial copying of music by specialist companies that supply music systems to businesses such as shops, bars and gyms for the playing of recorded music (including via hard disk systems, satellite/narrowcast delivery and digital jukeboxes).

PPL’s international collections business grew by £21.3 million (43%) to £70.9 million, up from £49.6 million in 2017, which follows sustained longer-term growth over recent years. PPL says that it now has 92 agreements in place with collective management organisations around the world. These agreements allow PPL to collect monies where its members’ repertoire is used overseas in the territories covered by those collective management organisations, such as for radio or TV broadcasting, cable retransmission, public performance, private copying or dubbing.

In 2018 PPL also distributed money to 105,192 performers and recording rights holders, the first time that PPL has ever paid over 100,000 individuals or companies in a single financial year, up from 98,012 in 2017. This was split into 94,750 performers and 10,442 recording rights holders. To read PPL’s announcement in full, click here.

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