In his speech, Peter reflected on PPL’s financial performance in 2024, including record-breaking revenue and progress across UK licensing and international collections. He also outlined key operational developments and shared thoughts on what’s ahead for the organisation.
Read the full speech below.
Hello everyone, thank you for joining us here today, and thank you to all of my colleagues for their presentations and discussions.
As you have heard, it has certainly been a busy year, and a pleasing one at that, crossing the next hundred million pound threshold for the first time, in our 90th year.
Public performance remains a good growth engine, despite tough economic headwinds, as Greg has outlined. There is still plenty of headroom for growth in the UK market, enabling us to continue to increase our licensing penetration across a range of sectors. Thanks to Greg and the team at PPL PRS up in Leicester for all you are doing to grow our public performance licensing on behalf of the recording rightsholders and performers we represent. Thank you also to Andrea Martin and her PRS team for a year of good collaboration with the joint venture.
Our broadcast revenue remains stable in a somewhat variable market, as the teams continue to drive value from the deals that we have in place, and negotiate new ones as broadcasters extend the formats they offer in their strategies to retain ears and eyeballs.
And I am delighted to be reporting a return to growth in our international collections, driven by a varying number of factors, ranging from an increase in members using us for these collections, greater collaboration among CMOs to drive accuracy and efficiency, to signing new bilateral deals with other territories. In 2024 we were proud to have the likes of Lewis Capaldi, The Last Dinner Party, Kenya Grace, Yoko Ono, the estate of John Lennon and many more appoint PPL for their international neighbouring rights collections, as well as retain over 99% of our existing international mandates.
The global Neighbouring Rights market currently stands at just over three billion US dollars, with Goldman Sachs putting another billion dollars on its value in the next five years. That is an exciting prospect, when you are as well placed as PPL is to take advantage of it.
Our performance over the last decade has demonstrated just how capable we are of doing so. When I stood on this stage ten years ago we reported 2014 revenues of £187M. And as you have heard today, for 2024 we have grown collections to £301.0M. So, we have added 61% to collections in a decade.
My ethos as a person, as a CEO, and ultimately how I have run the business, has always been in the firm belief that we achieve better together. That an underlying drive for collaboration – rather than protectionism – is the key to greater success.
That ethos has proven itself as a flywheel of growth for PPL, as well as help and support for the wider music industry in the UK.
Here in the UK we achieved what many thought would never be possible: the joint venture with PRS to create one entity for public performance licensing – after a mere 84 years of licensing separately! That collaboration is now delivering the best ever public performance revenues for PPL.
Internationally we have worked with others to create and build global technology solutions which address some of the enduring pain points we know our members grapple with. These include working with other collective management organisations under SCAPR – the global trade body for performer CMOs – on the International Performer Database and Virtual Recordings Database, and with IFPI and WIN on the Repertoire Data Exchange (RDx), which as you have heard from the panel, is delivering dividends. Being a key voice around the table, and contributing without ego to solutions bigger than ourselves, has driven a strong return for our members, one which I am proud to stand up here and report to you.
To be a good partner in a collaborative relationship you need to be steady. Secure. Constant.
You need to be balanced.
Indeed, the very definition of balance is ‘an even distribution of weight, enabling something to remain upright and steady’.
The PPL team and myself have always sought to play this balancing role. And perhaps it is not surprising, since PPL itself is ultimately all about balance.
As John referenced, we balance the views of the Major record companies, the Indie companies, featured performers, non-featured performers and studio producers around our board table, to represent everyone.
We balance our position as an effective monopoly in the UK with an increasing stake in a very competitive international market – one where we are sometimes competing with our own members.
And my position has always been; how do we make what seems on paper like a tension, work in our favour to drive ourselves to be better?
I have a vision for PPL to be the first choice globally for neighbouring rights royalty collections.
That means recording rightsholders and performers coming to us in the UK not because they have to, but because they know that with PPL they will get the best collections, the best service and the best experience.
That they know we understand that serving our members and retaining them is just as important as the bottom line.
And that they chose us to collect internationally for them because they know that we think first and foremost commercially, and do not leave money on the table. Our 113 international agreements span the global market, and our teams hold deep knowledge and expertise in each of the territories we work with in order to deliver effectively. We are not driven by returns to shareholders or investors, we are driven by maximising our returns to members, and that means we keep our fees low and competitive.
Einstein said that ‘life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving’.
This is important because the world is changing rapidly around us and we must change with it, in order to remain the consistent and competitive – and yes, balanced – organisation which we are. We have always been an early adopter and leader in pushing forward the market for neighbouring rights. Whether that is developing new licencing models or tariffs for the UK market, collaborating to create new markets for neighbouring rights around the world or investing in and embracing new technologies to make our data flows and processes more efficient – standing still is not an option.
Whether we like it or not, AI is going to irrevocably change everything, and within that, the musical landscape – as digital music did 25 years ago.
This time the change has a personal lens, given the current arguments root in an attack on the very fundamental premise of copyright. I started my law career in Intellectual Property, and it has provided the bedrock for everything I have done since. I remain as passionate about protecting copyright for its creators as I was when I joined my first law firm all those years ago.
Over the past few years we have been an active and vocal participant in championing the music rights which protect and ultimately pay our PPL recording rightsholder and performer members. Many thanks to Camilla Waite, our General Counsel and Mark Douglas, our Chief Information Officer, for leading this work in the AI space, along with those across the music community who are collaborating to stand up for music rights. Jo Twist and her team at the BPI and Tom Kiehl and his team at UK Music have led from the front, working with all of the UK Music member organisations, to ensure that music has been well represented in this area. This particularly includes the protracted debate on AI transparency proposals that recently took place between the Government and the House of Lords. Thanks also to John Mottram at PRS for Music, who has chaired the UK Music AI committee alongside Camilla, seeking to find a common and powerful message to represent the various different facets of the UK music landscape to Government.
I have always wanted PPL to be a leader for positive change.
It is why we care so deeply about PPL Giving, our one million pound annual programme to support organisations in the UK who are developing musical talent, providing employment opportunities and protecting artist welfare. This is not just altruistic. Enabling performers to grow their skills, to work, and to look after themselves physically and mentally helps to contribute to having a musical community to serve in the future.
It is why we care about being recognised as an employer of choice. A workforce of colleagues who feel supported in their development, who work in an inclusive environment and enjoy the culture of the company they work for, will inevitably generate better returns for our members.
And it is why we feel so passionately about the purpose of our organisation; to champion music rights, ensuring our members’ talent and investment is fairly rewarded. You cannot be a leader without purpose – to do so is to miss the reason why you are trying to lead. And so in times of change, we return to our purpose, the principle of which remains the same as it did 90 years ago, when we were founded by EMI and Decca. To serve our members. To put protecting their rights and paying their royalties at the heart of everything we do. I remain very ambitious for PPL for the next 90 years, but I know that this purpose will remain as true throughout, as it has so far. Many thanks to you, our members, for choosing PPL, and for supporting us in everything we do.
My thanks to Christine Geissmar, our former Chief Operating Officer, who, after almost 17 years at PPL, retired earlier this year. Christine was instrumental in building our public performance business to the point where a joint venture with PRS was feasible, in the work to build and launch the joint venture, and in running it for a year after launch. As such, Christine will forever be an important part of the history of PPL.
Finally, my thanks to John. The recruitment process for a new Chair is underway – we have advertised the role and received a good number of applications, which we are working through. That aside, we still have six months left to go in John’s tenure, so I do not – yet! – intend to give an exhaustive recognition of everything that he has given to PPL over his three decades involved in the company. However, it would be remiss of me not to mark his last AGM by thanking you, John, on behalf of everyone across PPL, and the board, for everything that you have put into making us the company we are today. I have talked today about balance, and you have exemplified how to hold the line steady over many years. It has been a joy working with you at every step of the way, and we will look to mark your standing down later at the end of the year.
Thank you everyone for coming along today and thank you for listening.
Read the full breakdown of PPL’s 2024 financial results and operations in the Annual Review 2024.
