Phonographic Performance Limited

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PPL
Phonographic Performance Limited
Founded12 May 1934
Founder Decca Records, EMI
Merger ofAssociation of United Recording Artists (AURA) and the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association Ltd (PAMRA) into Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) in 2006
Type Private company limited by guarantee
Location
Area served
International
ServicesMusic Copyright Collective
Revenue
£272.6 Million (2022)
Website www.ppluk.com

Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. [1] It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, [2] and undertakes collective rights management of sound recordings on behalf of its record-company [3] members, and distributes the fees collected to both its record company (rights holder) members and performer members. [3] As of 2022, PPL collected royalties for over 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders. [4]

Contents

PPL continues to be owned by record companies, which it refers to as "rights holders", who are legally the only "members" and the only ones entitled to attend the annual general meeting. [5] In 2023, PPL announced its 2022 financial results, revealing £272.6 million was collected that year, an increase of 7.8% on 2018, and that growth was achieved across broadcast and public performance revenue, but international revenue had decreased from 2021. [6] PPL is a member of the British Copyright Council (BCC). [7]

After administration costs and contributions to anti-piracy activities and music industry charities—all of which are agreed by the membership at the AGM [8] —all revenue generated from PPL licence fees is passed onto its registered record company and performer members as royalties for the use of their recorded music. PPL members range from session musicians and emerging artists to major record labels and globally successful performers. It is free to join PPL as a member.

PPL's field of operation is distinct from the UK's other main music copyright collective previously known as the "Performing Right Society", [9] now called PRS for Music, which was founded in 1914 and originally collected fees for live performance of sheet music. [10] [11]

As of 2018, PRS has entered a joint venture with PPL under a Leicester-based private company called PPL PRS Ltd, which aims to make it easier for their customers to obtain a music licence, which they have called "TheMusicLicence". [12] [13] [14]

PPL's CEO is Peter Leathem OBE. [15] Leathem was awarded the OBE for services to the music industry in the Kings 2023 New Years Honours List. [16]

History

Founding and early history (1934–1956)

PPL was formed in May 1934 by the record companies EMI and Decca Records, following a court case against Bristol coffee shop Stephen Carwardine & Co, which had been entertaining its customers by playing records. EMI, then called The Gramophone Company, argued it was against the law to play the record in public without first receiving the permission of the copyright owners. The judge agreed, establishing this as a legal principle. EMI and Decca formed Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) to carry out this licensing role, and opened the first office in London.

The Copyright Act 1956 led to the expansion of PPL's role to also cover the licensing of broadcasters that played recorded music. Further copyright law changes in 1988 strengthened PPL's licensing position. [17]

Performers' right to equitable remuneration (1996)

In 1996, performers were given the right to receive "equitable remuneration" where recordings of their performances were played in public or broadcast and until 2006, these rights were collected for performers by Performing Artists' Media Rights Association Ltd (PAMRA) and Association of United Recording Artists (AURA) for non-featured and featured performers respectively. [18] [5] Article 15 of the WPPT reads; "Performers and producers of phonograms shall enjoy the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms published for commercial purposes for broadcasting or for any communication to the public".[ citation needed ] When performers were granted the right to equitable remuneration through legislation, streaming services such as YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music did not exist and there is still no statutory right to remuneration for artist and performers when their performances are exploited by streaming services. [19] Unlike its German counterpart GVL, PPL do not collect Secondary Exploitation Rights for performers; in the UK this is currently within the remit of the Musicians Union. [20] [21]

Mergers (2006)

Performer organisations PAMRA and AURA merged with PPL in November 2006, leading to an annual meeting and dedicated board specifically for performers. [22] [23] Performers had no rights until the right to equitable remuneration was brought in to law in 1996, at which point PAMRA and AURA came into being; PAMRA collecting for non-featured performers and AURA for featured ones. [24] [25]

Joint venture (2016)

PPL PRS Ltd is a private limited company incorporated in the UK on 14 September 2016. It is equally owned by PPL and PRS with an initial shareholding allocation of one ordinary share to each party, creating one music copyright collective organisation in the UK that is responsible for licensing music and collection of fees. [26] The company's stated aim is to provide the best music licensing experience in the world. [27] [22]

International agreements

PPL has international agreements, sometimes referred to as "Reciprocal Deals", [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] with 95 music copyright collection societies, including Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) in Australia, Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten GmbH (GVL) in Germany, and AARC, AFM & SAG-AFTRA, and SoundExchange (P & R) in the US. The territories and societies that PPL currently hold agreements with do not all offer representation of performers; some offer representation to both rights-holders and performers and some only offer representation for rights holders. [33] [34]

PPL is one of 44 ordinary members of the Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights (SCAPR), which was founded in 1986 and is based in Brussels, Belgium. [35] It operates as an international platform for the development of the practical cooperation between copyright collection societies that represent performers. Other ordinary members include GVL (Germany), SENA (The Netherlands), ADAMI (France) [36] and RAAP (Ireland). Associate Members include ARCC (US) [37] and SAMPRA (South Africa). [38]

Playing music in public

Music licensing for business

Any business that plays recorded music within PPL's repertoire in public, such as a shop, bar, office, restaurant, gym, community building, not-for-profit organisation; or for activities such as dance classes, needs to have a PPL licence. Exceptions are hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast accommodation that have fewer than 25 rooms and have no areas that are open to non-residents, such as a bar or restaurant.

A PPL licence is required when recorded music, within PPL's repertoire, including radio and television, is played in public. There is no statutory definition of "playing in public" and "public performance" but the UK courts have given guidance on its meaning and ruled that it means any playing of music outside of a domestic setting, for example at a workplace, public event or in the course of any business activities. No licence is required for listening on headphones. The playing of recorded music as part of domestic home life, or when the audience consists entirely of friends and/or family does not require a PPL licence.

A PPL licence gives the licence holder permission to play recorded music from PPL's repertoire; the vast majority of commercially released music in the UK. Playing music that is outside of its copyright term or that is freely licensed does not require a PPL licence.

In 2018 PPL and PRS for Music joined forces to streamline music licensing for businesses, coming together to launch PPL PRS Ltd. [39]

Music licensing for radio broadcasting

PPL licenses radio stations based in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands to use recorded music within its repertoire in all forms of radio, from traditional FM/AM broadcasting to satellite and online streaming.

Music licensing for television broadcasting

With the relevant PPL music licence, broadcasters can use recorded music within PPL's repertoire and/or music videos in their programming with the permission of the performer and copyright owner. Applications for music licences can be made online. [40]

Membership

Record company members

Anyone who owns or holds an exclusive licence to the rights for recorded music that is broadcast or played in public in the UK can join PPL as a recording rights-holder member. This can include major record labels, independent labels, self-releasing artists or companies that have purchased the relevant rights. [3]

Performer members

Anyone who has performed on recorded music can join PPL as a performer member. If an audible contribution has been made to a recorded music track, the performer could be eligible for royalties. This includes lead singers, choir members and musicians who have contributed to a recording, and could be eligible for PPL royalties. Inaudible contributions such as a conductor are also eligible.

The equitable remuneration percentage paid to performers varies [41] as defined in PPL UK Distribution Rules, Schedule 5: Performer Allocation Rules [42] with featured performers receiving the largest share and non-featured a smaller share. The percentage allocation process is complex and dependent on a number of factors.

PPL Performers are placed into categories on the Sound Recordings they have performed on; featured, other featured, and non-featured.

Repertoire

A licence is required from PPL whenever recorded music within its repertoire is played in public or broadcast. PPL's repertoire includes all recorded music owned or controlled by its direct members or by members of any of the overseas collective management organisations with which PPL has a reciprocal agreement. [43] PPL's repertoire covers the vast majority of recorded music commercially available in the UK.

PPL database

The database is the core of PPL's business and the main interface with its registered members. The database holds all the information required to both license the music and to distribute collected licenses to PPL's members. It contains the metadata (or details included in the file) of all the music registered by PPL's members that is relevant to both identify a piece of music and determine its legal status. [5]

The difference between PPL and PRS for music licensing

PPL and PRS for Music are separate, independent companies and in most instances a licence is required from both organisations to legally play recorded music in public. As of 2018 both organisations have launched a joint venture via formation of a new Private limited company called PPL PRS Ltd which aims to streamline the process of obtaining a Music license in the UK. [44] While both companies licence the use of music and collect royalties for the music industry, they represent different rights holders and have separate licences, terms, and conditions. PPL collects and distributes money for the use of recorded music on behalf of record companies and performers. PRS for Music collects and distributes money for the use of the musical composition and lyrics on behalf of authors, songwriters, composers, and publishers.

Other ventures

Video Performance Ltd, incorporated 23 May 1984, is a private limited company [45] [46] [47] the PPL's website states is as a "sister company" but it is a separate legal entity. [48] VPL licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on television. VPL distributes the fees as royalties to its rights-holder members whose names appear on the VPL register and are kept under Section 352 of the Companies Act 1985. [49] Although technically a separate company, VPL operates under the same management as PPL. All activities relating to music videos are conducted as VPL business.

Related Research Articles

Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective is a non-governmental body created by copyright law or private agreement which licenses copyrighted works on behalf of the authors and engages in collective rights management. Copyright societies track all the events and venues where copyrighted works are used and ensure that the copyright holders listed with the society are remunerated for such usage. The copyright society publishes its own tariff scheme on its websites and collects a nominal administrative fee on every transaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PRS for Music</span> British music rights society

PRS for Music Limited is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes collective rights management for musical works on behalf of its 160,000 members. PRS for Music was formed in 1997 following the MCPS-PRS Alliance. In 2009, PRS and MCPS-PRS Alliance realigned their brands and became PRS for Music.

A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or a fixed price per unit sold of an item of such, but there are also other modes and metrics of compensation. A royalty interest is the right to collect a stream of future royalty payments.

The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) is an organisation that collects royalties and protects rights for music publisher, song writer and composer members, when their music is reproduced, in any format – including online, physical and synchronised.

A compulsory license provides that the owner of a patent or copyright licenses the use of their rights against payment either set by law or determined through some form of adjudication or arbitration. In essence, under a compulsory license, an individual or company seeking to use another's intellectual property can do so without seeking the rights holder's consent, and pays the rights holder a set fee for the license. This is an exception to the general rule under intellectual property laws that the intellectual property owner enjoys exclusive rights that it may license—or decline to license—to others.

APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two organisations work together to license public performances and administer performance, communication and reproduction rights on behalf of their members, who are creators of musical works, aiming to ensure fair payments to members and to defend their rights under the Australian Copyright Act (1968).

Phonographic Performance Ireland CLG (PPI) is a music licensing company which controls the public performance, broadcasting, reproduction of recording, and other rights of the recordings under its jurisdiction, which comprise the recordings of several different labels in Ireland. PPI collects the copyright royalties for performances or reproductions on behalf of the Irish labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988</span> United Kingdom law

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, also known as the CDPA, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 15 November 1988. It reformulates almost completely the statutory basis of copyright law in the United Kingdom, which had, until then, been governed by the Copyright Act 1956 (c. 74). It also creates an unregistered design right, and contains a number of modifications to the law of the United Kingdom on Registered Designs and patents.

Public domain music is music to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply.

Production music is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries.

The copyright law of Australia defines the legally enforceable rights of creators of creative and artistic works under Australian law. The scope of copyright in Australia is defined in the Copyright Act 1968, which applies the national law throughout Australia. Designs may be covered by the Copyright Act as well as by the Design Act. Since 2007, performers have moral rights in recordings of their work.

Music Law refers to legal aspects of the music industry, and certain legal aspects in other sectors of the entertainment industry. The music industry includes record labels, music publishers, merchandisers, the live events sector and of course performers and artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital DJ licensing</span> Type of music licence

A digital DJ licence is required in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium and Italy, to publicly play digital copies of copyrighted music. The licence allows a DJ to copy music from original CDs, vinyl or other media, to a computer's hard drive, an MP3 player or other digital audio players, for example to be used with a vinyl emulation software program, or in some cases to other digital media, such as CD-R or MiniDisc. In the countries where digital DJ licensing is used, the licence is also required for playing music originally bought and downloaded directly on to a computer, usually in MP3 or similar format, unless the licence of the online music store explicitly allows the public performance of the downloaded tracks.

An Internet radio license is a specific type of broadcast license that allows the licensee to operate an Internet radio station. The licensing authority and number of licenses required varies from country to country, with some countries requiring multiple to cover various areas of a station's operation, and other countries not having stringent licensing procedures in place. Licensing costs also vary, based on the number of listeners that a station has, as well as other factors such as the number of songs played, the number of broadcast hours, and whether tracks are dubbed to a digital playout system.

Collective rights management is the licensing of copyright and related rights by organisations acting on behalf of rights owners. Collective management organisations (CMOs), sometimes also referred to as collecting societies, typically represent groups of copyright and related rights owners, i.e.; authors, performers, publishers, phonogram producers, film producers and other rights holders. At the least, rights holders authorize collective rights management organizations to monitor the use of their works, negotiate licenses with prospective users, document correct right management data and information, collect remuneration for use of copyrighted works, ensuring a fair distribution of such remuneration amongst rightsholders. CMOs also act on legal mandates. Governmental supervision varies across jurisdictions.

Collection administration of copyrights describes the use in Canadian law of collective societies to manage licenses for copyrighted material belonging to more than one copyright owner. These collective societies are responsible for granting permission to use the works they manage and setting out what conditions users of their works must follow. Examples of collective societies in Canada include: Christian Video Licensing International and the Canadian Broadcasters Rights Agency

Phonographic Performance Limited India, commonly known as PPL India, is an Indian collective rights management organization (CMO), founded in 1941. The company controls the Public Performance rights of 317 music labels, with more than 1.5 million foreign and 0.8 million Indian songs in their repertoire. Additionally, PPL also holds the Radio Broadcast licensing rights of 268 record labels. The tracks represented by the organization encompass numerous languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali.

Labelcode also known as Label Code is a unique 4-digit or 5-digit music label identification code that is assigned by Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), Germany. Since 2017, Labelcode is no longer mandatory. Labelcode is still used in some occasions, for example, CD publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GVL (copyright collection society)</span>

The GVL is a German music copyright collection society that represents the interests of performing artists and producers of sound recordings. Its German name translates to English as "Society for the exploitation of ancillary copyrights".

References

  1. ↑ Adams & Adams - Werina Griffiths (29 April 2013). "The role of collecting societies | Lexology". www.lexology.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  2. ↑ "PHONOGRAPHIC PERFORMANCE LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Code of Conduct - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  4. ↑ "PPL - What we do". Ppluk.com. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Aguilar, Ananay (9 August 2019). "The collective management of performers' rights in the UK: a story of competing interests". SCRIPTed. 16 (1): 4–48. doi: 10.2966/scrip.160119.4 . ISSN   1744-2567.
  6. ↑ "PPL publishes 2022 financial results and Annual Review - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Members". BCC. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "PPL Company Annual Review 2011". PPL. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Licensing commercials. (PRS for music, 2017). PPL (Phonographic - Summary Writing Examples". Weather Bird. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Aharoni, Yair; Nachum, Lilach (1 June 2000). Globalization of Services: Some Implications for Theory and Practice. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-134-73636-2.
  11. ↑ Popular music and society - Page 39 Brian Longhurst - 2007 "The three types of right identified in figure 1.5 are sometimes further grouped into performing and mechanical. The Performing Right Society (PRS), which was founded in 1914, is the principal collecting agency for performing Right Basis for "
  12. ↑ "PPL PRS Launches in Leicester | In the News". PPL PRS. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "PPL and PRS launch joint venture to offer single public performance licence". Music Business Worldwide. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "Music licensing made simple". Business Matters. 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "Meet the PPL team". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  16. ↑ "Peter Leathem, YolanDa Brown, Geoff Taylor and Robin Millar named in UK New Year's Honours List". Music Business Worldwide. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  17. ↑ "Our history - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  18. ↑ Hitchens, Locke Lord LLP-Ben (25 January 2019). "Copyright in the United Kingdom | Lexology". www.lexology.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Article: PERFORMERS' RIGHTS – Music Law Updates" . Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "Legal basis | GVL". Archived from the original on 5 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "theMU - Recording Union | Music Recording & Broadcasting Rights | The MU". www.musiciansunion.org.uk. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  22. 1 2 "Our history - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "Association of United Recording Artists / Performing Artists' Media Rights Association Ltd / Phonographic Performance Ltd". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  24. ↑ "PPL's Peter Leathem on how performers have transformed the collection society | Analysis | Music Week". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  25. ↑ "Association of United Recording Artists / Performing Artists' Media Rights Association Ltd / Phonographic Performance Ltd". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  26. ↑ "PPL PRS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  27. ↑ "About PPL PRS Ltd | What we do | PPL PRS | United for Music". PPL PRS. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  28. ↑ "PPL announces Performer ER deal with Jamaican society | Complete Music Update" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  29. ↑ "PPL, ADAMI Strike Reciprocal Deal". Billboard. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  30. ↑ "PPL announces reciprocal deal with Serbian society | Complete Music Update" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  31. ↑ "PPL does reciprocal deal with New Zealand society | Complete Music Update" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  32. ↑ "PPL ADDS EUROPEAN PARTNERS". connection.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.[ dead link ][ full citation needed ][ verification needed ]
  33. ↑ "International Agreements - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  34. ↑ "Press corner". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  35. ↑ "About us – scapr" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  36. ↑ "Governance". Adami. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  37. ↑ "Welcome | Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies". AARC. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  38. ↑ "About Us – Sampra". www.sampra.org.za. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  39. ↑ "PPL PRS | TheMusicLicence | The UK's public music licensing company".
  40. ↑ "PPL website". PPL. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  41. ↑ "Member policies and distribution rules - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  42. ↑ "Member policies and distribution rules - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  43. ↑ "PPL website" (PDF). PPL. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  44. ↑ "What is TheMusicLicence?". PPL PRS. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  45. ↑ "Brit, Belgium rights orgs link up – Variety". variety.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.[ dead link ]
  46. ↑ "VIDEO PERFORMANCE LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  47. ↑ "Newsline". Billboard. 3 May 2003. p. 56.
  48. ↑ "Music video licensing - VPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  49. ↑ "Member policies and distribution rules - PPL". www.ppluk.com. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
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