PPL is paying £54.3 million to 147,000 performers and recording rightsholders today (17 December), either as direct members of PPL or indirectly through other collective management organisations (CMOs), including over 8,500 first time payees. This final distribution of the year also includes revenue from VPL, which licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on TV.
The company has paid a total of £277.7 million to performers and recording rightsholders in 2025.
PPL collects and distributes royalties in the UK and internationally on behalf of tens of thousands of recording rightsholders and performers, including artists such as Cat Burns, Lewis Capaldi, Charli xcx, Dua Lipa, and the estate of John Lennon.
In addition to payments from its UK licensing activity, today the organisation is also distributing royalties from 63 international CMOs. Performer collections from Denmark, Germany and the USA have increased as a result of ongoing data improvements, and in Sweden due some back payments relating to a historical private copying settlement.
Recording rightsholders are receiving significant payments from Belgium this quarter following improved collaboration around repertoire data, as well as substantial payments from Germany, Hungary, Romania and Spain.
The Annual Supplementary Remuneration Fund, established following changes to the term of copyright protection for sound recordings, is paying out a considerable £2.3 million. More than 20,000 non-featured performers are receiving annual supplementary remuneration, from thousands of recordings released between 1963 and 1973. Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ becomes eligible for ASR payment this year, as well as Christmas classic Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’.
Shamus Damani, Consultant Director of Business Affairs, Defected Records Limited said: “This year I believe PPL has delivered its largest international Q4 payment to recording rightsholders, helping to ensure that music continues to be a sustainable career choice for both performers and recording rightsholders.
“It is clear from these figures that PPL continues to bring tremendous value to the music industry, and our collaboration with them plays a major part in the continued success of our business.”
Peter Leathem OBE, CEO, PPL adds: “I am pleased to close the year with such a strong payment to performers and recording rightsholders in the UK and beyond. My thanks to all the PPL team who work to deliver this positive outcome, as well as all of the CMOs around the world with whom we collaborate on collections, data and technology developments. All of which is making the movement of payments around the world ever more effective and efficient for our members.”
