Chair’s statement
You will hear a lot about our 90th anniversary in 2024 – and rightly so.
I have had the privilege of working with PPL for nearly three decades, seeing close up how it has developed into the successful organisation it is today.
Part of that success, of course, has been about growing annual collections, including in 2023 when PPL delivered another set of record revenues, collecting £283.5 million, a 4% increase on 2022. Alongside growing the business, we continued to play an active role in the wider music industry, including further building our support and funding for organisations creating positive change in the UK music scene through PPL Giving.
This included announcing three years of funding for The BRIT School to become a lead partner of the school’s Music Careers Programme, as well as agreeing funding for East London Arts & Music (ELAM), both free-to-attend educational establishments which enable young people from all backgrounds to have access to world-class education.
We also continued to support organisations working to protect artist welfare, including BAPAM (the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine), of which Peter Leathem OBE is chair, and Music Minds Matter, as well as those dedicated to developing local talent, such as Tomorrow’s Warriors, Jazz re:freshed, and the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside these partnerships, PPL renewed its backing of PRS Foundation, which during the year rolled out a new funding programme, the Talent Development Network, to support UK-based talent development organisations and celebrated the 10th anniversary of the PPL Momentum Music Fund.
Across the wider music industry, we continued to focus on raising data standards through collaborations with other organisations. Via our management of RDx, we supported and worked with partners to improve recording rightsholder data quality within the service. Also, as a leading voice in a variety of DDEX forums, we worked to standardise the flow of metadata across the music industry. We also hosted workshops with SCAPR to educate and train international performer collecting society members on topics such as audio fingerprinting and data quality.
We played an important role in supporting the work of other CMOs, including through our highly successful business services operation, which in 2023 provided back-office assistance to six CMOs around the world.
PPL continues to focus on a number of important public affairs issues, including AI, music streaming and Brexit. Last year, we engaged directly with the government on the IPO’s consultation on the Beijing Treaty. We also actively contributed to the various working groups that were formed out of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee’s inquiry into the economics of the music industry and supported broader industry calls to address the adverse effects we know Brexit is still having on touring for many of our members.
Our 90th anniversary year in 2024 is set to be just as productive. This is proving to be a year of investment to further improve our processes, refine our technology and develop our colleagues. As we strive to make PPL even better for our members, I am proud of the work being carried out by Peter and his team and want to thank them for everything they are doing. It is a real pleasure working with them all. And, of course, a thank you to our members, who sit at the heart of everything we do.
John F Smith OBE
Chair
