What is Audio Network?
Audio Network is an international production music company, founded in the UK in 2001 and head-quartered in London. It controls the rights to a large catalogue of over 250,000 recordings. Audio Network licenses the use of its sound recordings directly with music users, such as TV and radio broadcasters, both in the UK and around the world.
How is PPL working with Audio Network?
In November 2023, PPL entered into an agreement with Audio Network to collect the production music company’s neighbouring rights royalties outside of the UK. This is because in some countries outside of the UK, production music is included in the collections and / or distributions of the relevant collective management organisations due to different rights regimes and / or licensing and distribution practices in those territories.
This means that the owners of production music and the performers who performed on it may be entitled to receive payments from those collective management organisations.
The service being provided by PPL is an international collections service only, and, therefore, PPL will not be licensing or collecting for the use of Audio Network recordings in the UK.
How much Audio Network repertoire is now in the PPL Database?
We have loaded the full Audio Network catalogue of 250,000 recordings into our repertoire database, with new releases to be registered monthly going forward.
What performer information is Audio Network providing to PPL?
As part of the process of uploading the Audio Network catalogue to the PPL database, we are working with Audio Network to complete performer information and line-ups on their recordings.
Audio Network has confirmed the ‘featured performer’ line-up on their catalogue where the featured performers have been identified as members of PPL (or members of other collective management organisations that have been registered with PPL).
PPL is working closely with Audio Network to complete ‘non-featured performer’ line-ups. PPL is also collaborating with the Musicians’ Union to collect additional line-up information.
Definitions of the qualification criteria for ‘featured performer’ and ‘non-featured performer’ are available here.
Current PPL performer members are now able to add themselves to line ups on Audio Network’s repertoire using PPL’s existing performer claims process.
For those performers who have given PPL an international mandate, PPL will then be able to collect performer revenues for these recordings when collective management organisations report that usage.
Because Audio Network’s production music recordings are in the UK, and they are not eligible for PPL’s UK distributions, any performers added to the line-ups will not receive a UK payment from PPL for those recordings.
What if I have an international collection mandate with another agent and want to move to PPL?
Moving your international collection mandate from another agent to PPL requires some documentation. Please check the contract with your current agent and contact our Member Services team if you have any queries and to confirm your intention to join PPL.
Email: memberservices@ppluk.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 8068 1054
Is Audio Network repertoire searchable on the PPL database?
Yes, but only if you are a PPL performer member. PPL performer members can search the recordings via myPPL and they can submit performer claims to be added to the line ups via PPL’s existing performer claims process.
More information on registering with PPL as a performer is available here.
As PPL is not licensing the use of the Audio Network repertoire in the UK, it does not show in search results using the public PPL Repertoire Search, to avoid confusion for PPL’s UK licensees.
How do I make a claim to be added to an Audio Network recording?
The process is the same as for commercially released recordings on the PPL database.
You can search for tracks where you made an audible contribution via the Repertoire Search on your MyPPL portal. From there you can claim to be added to these, submitting necessary evidence (MU PACT form, recording contract etc.)
More details on performer claims can be found here.
Which territories pay performers for the use of production music?
Only certain territories distribute for the use of production music. In relation to performer collections, our current understanding is that these territories are as follows, though this may change:
| Country | Collective Management Organisation (CMO) |
| Brazil | ABRAMUS |
| Bulgaria | PROPHON |
| Croatia | HUZIP |
| Czech Republic | INTERGRAM |
| Denmark | GRAMEX DK |
| Estonia | EEL |
| France | ADAMI/SPEDIDAM |
| Germany | GVL |
| Greece | ERATO/APOLLON |
| Hungary | EJI |
| Italy | NUOVO IMAIE |
| Latvia | LAIPA |
| Lithuania | AGATA |
| Netherlands | SENA |
| Poland | STOART/SAWP |
| Portugal | GDA |
| Romania | CREDIDAM |
| Serbia | PI |
| Slovakia | SLOVGRAM |
| Slovenia | IPF |
| Spain | AIE |
| USA | SOUNDEXCHANGE |
Will PPL performer members get paid by PPL for the UK usage of Audio Network recordings?
Audio Network recordings are not licensed in the UK by PPL, and they area not eligible for inclusion in PPL’s UK distributions. Performers will not receive a UK payment from PPL for the use of those recordings in the UK.
When will performers with their international performer mandate with PPL start to see money coming through?
We anticipate that the first payments will flow through in late 2024.
What are the benefits of appointing PPL to undertake international collections?
PPL can now collect non-UK revenue for the performers on Audio Network’s recordings through our well-established relationships with international collective management organisations. PPL already makes international collections for commercial recordings.
Eligible performers can benefit from our efficient processes, proactive revenue assurance, accurate and timely payments, on top of our low cost rate that is currently just 7%. PPL’s scale and high level of collections enables it to have efficient currency management processes in place to deliver optimal revenues.
Additionally, PPL makes every effort to work with tax authorities around the world to minimise the risk of paying tax twice. Double Taxation Treaties are agreements which reduce the rate of tax on payments made between two or more countries. They are designed to protect against the risk of double taxation which occurs where the same income is taxable in two countries.
PPL proactively works with CMOs and foreign tax authorities to utilise these tax treaties to maximise international revenue collections by reducing the withholding tax applied at source to the treaty rate. The tax rates will differ from country to country depending on what has been agreed in that specific treaty, but most EU countries reduce the tax rate on royalties to zero.
PPL does not charge additional commissions, mark up costs, or have any hidden charges.
We also have a multi-lingual international team that has detailed knowledge of the rules, data requirements and distribution methods of each of the collective management organisations.
Are any other production music catalogues registered with PPL in addition to the Audio Network repertoire?
It is possible that other non-Audio Network production music recordings have been registered by rightsholders with PPL (although PPL will not be licensing or collecting for the use of these recordings in the UK). To date, however, the Audio Network repertoire is the only complete production music catalogue we have fully uploaded into the database for the purposes of providing them with the international collections service.
Where non-Audio Network recordings have been registered with PPL, and these have been matched to usage data reported by other collective management organisations, then PPL will be able to make claims to the relevant collection management organisations where the performers on those recordings have given PPL their international mandate. However, where the production music catalogue is not registered with PPL then this process is more challenging, and we may not be able to make international performer collections on behalf of performers on these catalogues.
Does this mean PPL will now start collecting for other production music libraries internationally?
No. This is the first larger scale trial that we are undertaking to understand the impact of on our systems, processes and members of collecting for production music internationally. As with any trial, we will evaluate the results before making any decisions about next steps.