WASHINGTON: PPL enjoyed a record-breaking financial year in 2016, with total annual revenues breaking the £200 million mark for the first time ever, Music Week can exclusively reveal. In total, £212.1m ($273.6m) was collected, with the company delivering growth across each of its three primary revenue streams – public performance and dubbing, broadcast, and international. Collections were up by £15.1 million (8%) on 2015. It was PPL’s international collections business that experienced the most significant growth, with £48.3m collected in 2016 compared to £36.7m in 2015 – a year-on-year rise of 32% (16% on a currency neutral basis). PPL now has 83 international agreements in place with overseas CMOs to collect this revenue across 39 countries. Significant collections in 2016 were made from the USA, France and Germany. Elsewhere, broadcast revenue saw an uptick of 2% to £77.4m. Collections from public performance and dubbing also increased by 2% to £86.4 million.
In line with record annual revenue for 2016, PPL also achieved record net distributable revenue after all costs and deductions of £178.9m. 83,102 performers and 9,589 recording rights holders received a PPL payment in 2016 – an increase of 30% on the previous year. According to PPL, this was achieved whilst maintaining a similar cost-to-income ratio of 14.8%. The small increase of 0.6% is largely attributed to investment in the impending joint venture for public performance licensing with PRS For Music. Peter Leathem, chief executive at PPL, said: “We are delighted to have had another year of record growth and to have been able to pay out more money to our members than ever before. This has been made possible by the dedication and commitment that our staff show across all areas of the business and of course, the talents of our members. I am very pleased that we remain on course to continue delivering revenue growth, increased efficiency, outstanding customer service for our members and the highest level of customer satisfaction from our licensees.”
