PPL, the UK’s collective management organization (CMO) for performers and recording rightsholders, has reported a 19.9% increase in payouts for the final quarter of 2025, boosted by international payments.
The CMO paid out £54.3 million on Wednesday (December 17), or USD $72.8 million at current exchange rates, for the final payout of the year. That’s up from £45.3 million in the same period a year earlier.
PPL attributed the performance to growing international collections.
“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,” said Shamus Damani, Consultant Director of Business Affairs at Defected Records.
“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.”
“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.”
Shamus Damani, Defected Records
PPL has agreements with 63 international CMOs to distribute royalties generated in those markets. The company says performer collections from Denmark, Germany and the US increased due to ongoing data improvements, and from Sweden thanks to back payments under a 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,” PPL said.
The latest payout went to 147,000 performers and recording rightsholders, either as direct members of PPL or indirectly through other CMOs, and included more than 8,500 first time payees. The year’s last royalty distribution includes revenue from VPL, which licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on TV.
PPL said it made a “considerable” payout of £2.3 million ($3.1 million) under the Annual Supplementary Remuneration Fund, which was set up more than a decade ago when the UK extended the copyright on music to align with EU laws.
PPL says more than 20,000 non-featured performers are receiving annual supplementary royalties through the fund, which covers recordings released between 1963 and 1973. Among the recordings becoming eligible for ASR fund payments this year are Elton John‘s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.
In total, PPL says it has paid out £277.7 million ($372.2 million) to performers and recording rightsholders in 2025.
PPL CEO Peter Leathem OBE said he’s “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.”Music Business Worldwide
