The original line-up of the Happy Mondays, the seminal ‘Madchester’ band, have now all signed with PPL for the administration of their international neighbouring rights collections. PPL was already collecting for Paul Ryder, Mark Day, Paul Davis and Rowetta Satchell; now Shaun Ryder, Mark ‘Bez’ Berry and Gary Whelan have also signed their international mandates with the company. They join a roster of over 65,000 performers that PPL collects for internationally.
Happy Mondays helped to connect Manchester’s 70s and 80s alternative rock scene with its early 90s rave period through three iconic Factory Records releases: Bummed, Madchester Rave On and Pills ‘N’ Thrills and Bellyaches. Their music, along with that of their contemporaries such as The Stone Roses, continues to define one of the most important music scenes in British culture.
The band will benefit from over 95 agreements that PPL hold with collective management organisations (CMOs) around the world. In 2019 these agreements covered approximately 95% of the value of the neighbouring rights markets for performers and recording rightsholders. These relationships, along with an experienced team of neighbouring rights specialists and a well-developed technology infrastructure, help PPL identify and collect significant royalty sums; in 2018, its international revenue had a record year, collecting £70.9 million. This brought total international revenue collected since the department began in 2006 to £429.1 million. Since PPL was founded in 1934 the company has collected over £3 billion in the UK and internationally for performers and recording rightsholders, of which £2.6 billion has been collected this century.
Peter Leathem, Chief Executive Officer at PPL, said:
“We could not be happier to work with Happy Mondays. The band is an icon of British music and helped to create a sound that is still part of Manchester’s identity.
Through working with us they will receive the benefit of our global recorded music collections operation. We have strong relationships with many other CMOs around the world, via our international agreements as well as membership and board-level representation of various industry bodies. We are always investing in the people and infrastructure which underpins our sizeable and sophisticated collections and distributions. This scale in turn brings added financial benefits to our members, such as better currency exchanges given the sheer amount of money involved. All of this means that Happy Mondays, and all our internationally-mandated performer members, are better placed to receive the royalties they are owed.”
