PPL is paying £81.6 million to more than 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders in its Q2 distribution.
The music licensing company’s distribution primarily includes payments for UK collections across public performance and broadcast licensing in 2026, as well as some additional revenue from international markets.
Nearly 4,500 performers and recording rightsholders are receiving a payment for the first time. Since the beginning of the year, PPL has paid out a total of £159.3 million to performers and recording rightsholders, either as a direct member of PPL or through international collective management organisations (CMOs) with which PPL has an agreement.
The Q2 distribution comprises significant international payments for performers from CMOs in Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the US. Elsewhere, recording rightsholders have also seen substantial international revenue from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the US.
The year-on-year decrease in the total payment sum for this quarter in part reflects the increasingly faster pay-through of monies to performers and recording rightsholders, either through the growing in-year distribution of royalties or as advances paid out which are being recouped against.
PPL said that those factors have contributed to a drop in the level of revenue carried forward into the following year for payment.
We've continued to work collaboratively… helping our members receive their money faster
Anne-Marie Pearce
Music video usage payments are also included in the June distribution. More than £471,000 is being distributed to 275 recording rightsholders through PPL’s sister company, VPL, for the use of music videos when broadcast or played in public. VPL broadcast and public performance revenue declined throughout 2025, decreasing the amount available for payment.
Anne-Marie Pearce, chief financial officer, PPL, said: “At PPL, we exist to make sure our members are fairly rewarded for the talent and investment they put into their recorded music, when it’s broadcast or played publicly in the UK and globally. This latest payment reflects our ongoing focus on delivering value to performers and recording rightsholders and getting money to them as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“We've continued to work collaboratively with our peers around the world on new partnerships and shared technology so that more revenue can be distributed within the same year it’s collected, helping our members to receive their money faster.”
Ella Henderson, artist and PPL member, added: “PPL plays such an important role supporting artists and ensuring that our work is fairly valued and properly compensated. Knowing my music is being played and appreciated around the world and that in turn I’m getting paid, allows me to keep doing what I love. Thank you PPL for all that you do.”
