Broadly speaking, anyone who owns (or is the exclusive licensee of) the following rights in recorded music can join PPL as a recording rightsholder:
- The right to play the recording in public in the UK
- The right to broadcast the recording in the UK
- The right to copy the recording in the UK, for the above purposes
If you own (or are the exclusive licensee of) the same rights in music videos, you can also register these with us too.
When you register a music video, your membership is, technically, with our sister company, VPL. Both organisations operate from the same building, are under common management and so our member services team can help you with any queries relating to your music video rightsholder membership. You need to have these rights in at least one recording and/or music video, which needs to have been made for the purposes of sale or distribution to the general public.
Once you have joined PPL as a recording rightsholder, you can also ask us to collect international royalties on your behalf.
Samples
When a recording contains a sample, the performers on the original (sampled) recording may be entitled to claim performance revenue on the new sound recording (which includes the sampled recording).
A sample is when one part of a sound recording is reused in a different recording. The sample can be the whole recording, or just specific instruments or the vocal parts of a recording.
Recording rightsholders should identify when a sample has been used when registering their recordings on the PPL Repertoire Database. If you have not done this already you can go back and amend your previous registrations, as explained in our guide to registering repertoire, so PPL holds the correct information. For more information, read our guidance note on sampled performances.
Remasters
Remastered sound recordings should also be registered by the rightsholder with PPL as a separate recording from the original (un-remastered) recording only where the remaster is protected by a new copyright.
ISRC Registration
An International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is an identifying code that is used to identify recorded music and music videos. Each new audio or visual recording of a composition is assigned a unique ISRC, so that whenever it’s played, the performer receives the royalties.
We are the appointed sole agency for ISRCs in the UK and will allocate you an ISRC when you become a recording rightsholder member. Your unique code enables you to assign individual ISRC codes to recordings.
An ISRC is made up of 12 alphanumeric characters, split into three sections:
- ISRC stem – two letters followed by three alphanumeric characters that identify the recording rightsholder. We allocate these three letters and numbers – they are specific to you as the rightsholder. This code does not imply permanent ownership of the recording or video. The code will not change if the recording is later licensed to a different owner.
- Year of reference – two digits identifying the year a specific recording was given an ISRC (e.g. 25 for 2025).
- Designation code – five digits assigned by you, the recording rightsholder. Allocation of a new prefix code will be accompanied by the range of designation codes for which it is authorised for that rightsholder. This may be the full range of 00000 to 99999, or a subset of allocated designation codes within that range.
If you are already registered as a PPL recording rightsholder member and require a new or additional ISRC, you can request one by logging into your myPPL account and requesting a new ‘ISRC only’ registration.
You can also request an ISRC without being a PPL member. Please select the appropriate option on this registration page.
Rightsholders’ representatives
If you already represent a PPL recording rightsholder (or performer) and have a myPPL account, you can register a new rightsholder by clicking on “Accounts” from the myPPL homepage, then selecting “Registrations” followed by “Add Another Registration”.
You can begin the registration on behalf of the rightsholder – please ask them to sign the registration forms before returning to PPL for processing.
If you do not already represent a PPL member, please visit myPPL and select the “I am a representative of a performer or recording rightsholder” option.