PPL CEO Peter Leathem, whose organization reported a record distribution for Q4 2023. Photo Credit: PPL
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) has announced an all-time-high Q4 payout of over $62 million (£48.7 million).
The London-headquartered collective management organization (CMO) today announced the December distribution, which is said to mark a roughly 13 percent improvement from that delivered to the entity’s member performers and recorded rightsholders for Q4 2022.
According to PPL, the newer of the sums encompasses payments from its music-video-focused sister company, VPL, as well as “a growing amount” of compensation attributable to song plays racked up during 2023.
Meanwhile, the nearly century-old organization, which in November promoted Camilla Waite to general counsel, emphasized that it had drawn revenue from 63 international CMOs on the quarter – a figure that is itself “the highest ever in a single distribution.”
All told, PPL is said to have 113 agreements in place with “overseas counterparts,” now including India’s ISAMRA and Azerbaijan’s RAYS. The latter pact was only announced yesterday, with initial payments scheduled to arrive in spring.
In a statement, PPL CEO Peter Leathem touted the distribution as “the perfect way to end 2023” and underscored the CMO’s year-round efforts to maximize member payments.
“All year the PPL team works hard to maximise the income for our members and pay them what they are owed for the creativity and investment they make into the music we enjoy all around us,” Leathem communicated in part. “Knowing that we are supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people who make a living from music, particularly with a payment at this time of year, is a great motivator for everyone.
“I’m delighted that this payment includes revenue from more CMOs than ever – a real demonstration of the impact of our collaborative nature, our increasing network of neighbouring rights agreements, and the investment in our world-leading technology to process the millions of lines of data required to pay our thousands of members for the use of their recorded music,” concluded the more than two-decade PPL exec.
PPL Reported Distributions – 2023
Q4 2023 – $62.2 million (£48.7 million) to 137,000 performers and rightsholders
Q3 2023 – $16.2 million (£12.7 million) in international and VPL royalties to 25,500 performers and rightsholders
Q2 2023 – $125.2 million (£98 million), “the largest amount ever paid out in a single distribution,” to 121,000 performers and rightsholders
Q1 2023 – $21.2 million (£17.4 million) in international royalties to 26,000 performers and rightsholders
Previously, Audoo-partnered PPL reported $347.9 million (£272.6 million) in collections for all of 2022, a total fueled in large part by a 23 percent year-over-year spike in domestic licensing
