Jackie Davidson MBE, manager, re-elected and violist, Peter Lale, elected as Performer Directors at PPL’s Annual Performer Meeting 2023.
At today’s PPL Annual Performer Meeting (APM) Jackie Davidson and Peter Lale were elected as PPL Performer Board Directors. This means that Peter Thoms steps down.
Jackie and Peter will sit alongside PPL’s four other Performer Directors: Roxanne de Bastion, Hannah Joseph, Dave Lee and Horace Trubridge. A full list of PPL Board Directors can be found here.
For the first time in its 17-year history the APM was held out of London, taking place at the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The event welcomed a range of performer members and industry guests to hear from members of PPL’s senior management team, as well as an industry panel focused on opportunities for music creators in the region.
The event opened with an address from Chair, John Smith OBE, who highlighted the record-breaking results achieved by the company in 2022. As reported earlier in the year, total PPL revenue for 2022 reached £272.6m – the highest in its 89-year history, and a 7.8% increase on 2021. This surpasses the previous high of £271.8 in 2019. UK licensing – comprising public performance & dubbing, and broadcast & online – delivered revenue of £194.8m, a 22.7% increase on 2021. PPL’s third revenue stream, International, reached £77.8m, 17.2% down on 2021. A record number of 165,000 performers and recording rightsholders were paid during the year. Further details on all these financial results can be found in the PPL Annual Performer Review 2022.
The meeting also included a panel comprising Peter Leathem OBE, Chief Executive Officer PPL, Laurence Oxenbury, Director of International, Natalie Wade, Director of Music Industry Engagement, and Camilla Waite, newly appointed General Counsel. The panel covered achievements across the business from 2023, key areas of focus for the music industry such as Artificial Intelligence, and changes taking place across the international collections landscape.
Waite also announced the results of the Performer Director election.
The day concluded with a panel featuring PPL Momentum funded Reevah (Aoife Boyle), and her manager Aine Cronin-McCarthy, alongside side Chris W Ryan, Robocobra Quartet and Jo Wright, Arts Council Northern Ireland, discussing opportunities for music creators in Northern Ireland. The wide-ranging panel covered the process of grant writing, the art of great timing, and the importance of protecting performer mental health.
