Photo Credit: Christopher Bill
An investigation has been launched into suspected fraud at UK collection society PPL following suspicious activity on a few member accounts.
Police have launched an embezzlement investigation into London-based collection society PPL after the organization reported suspicious activity on a few member accounts. PPL said one staff member has been dismissed following an internal investigation carried out earlier this year. Now the crime is being investigated by The Metropolitan Police, according to a statement from PPL.
“We recently became aware of suspicious activity on a small number of member accounts. We immediately conducted an internal investigation, and one employee was dismissed,” a spokesperson for the organization said Thursday (December 19). PPL said it was “working with the limited number of impacted members to rectify accounts.”
According to industry sources who spoke to Billboard, the suspected embezzlement is believed to have involved either a person or group of people who posed as recording artists not registered as PPL members. They then fraudulently claimed royalties on their behalf.
When the real artists tried to register as members earlier this year, PPL discovered the scheme. The fraud is believed to have taken place over several years — possibly as far back as 2016 — with fraudulent transactions amounting to around £500,000 ($625,000).
PPL said it was unable to remark on the case while a criminal investigation is underway and declined to answer media requests for comment. The criminal investigation comes as the organization battles multiple lawsuits alleging fraudulent activity and rampant copyright infringement.
The second largest collecting societies in the United Kingdom, PPL has been around for 90 years. The organization licenses recorded music on behalf of labels and artists to UK radio and television broadcasters, and for use in bars, nightclubs, stores, and offices.
PPL has over 110 neighboring rights agreements in place with international CMOs, including SoundExchange and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) in the United States. Last year, PPL collected revenues of £285 million ($356 million), its highest ever annual total. This quarter, the organization reported distribution of £45.3 million ($57.5 million), a slight decline from the same quarter last year.
