PPL reports record revenue in 2023

UK music licensing company PPL has today revealed that it reached a record £283.5 million of revenue last year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and marking the highest level of income in the organisation’s 90-year history. The amount of annual revenue which is passed on to the more than 165,000 performers and recording rightsholders PPL represents has also grown by 5%.

Income from the use of recorded music in public places (which is collected jointly between PPL and PRS for Music) has increased from £100.8 million in 2022 to over £111 million in 2023, while broadcast revenues were also up from £94 million to £96.4 million.

PPL CEO Peter Leathem OBE said: ‘While much has changed in the 90 years since PPL was formed, the power of music to drive commercial value for businesses in the UK and beyond remains ever constant. In these somewhat precarious times for performers, we are proud to deliver a consistent stream of income for them and recording rights holders – over £1 billion distributed in the past five years alone.’

Contributors to this revenue increase include the launch of a new tariff for Specially Featured Entertainment (SFE) for the use of recorded music in DJ sets and discos in public places and the negotiation of several new licences in the television sphere as well as new deals connecting PPL with Collective Management Organisations in Guatemala, Indonesia, India and Azerbaijan.

However, international revenue, collected for the use of PPL members’ music around the world, decreased from £77.8 million in 2022 to £75.4 million last year. PPL reported that the ‘positive growth’ in its work overseas was not reflected in this revenue because it was ‘offset by the impact of declining revenues from monies for past periods’. The organisation also noted that the licence fee collected for commercial radio was adversely impacted by a downturn in radio advertising in 2023, although the sector does show signs of ‘positive recovery’.