UK collective management organization (CMO) PPL paid out £81.6 million (approx. USD $108 million) to more than 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders in its second-quarter distribution.
The payment, announced on Tuesday (June 30), mainly covers UK collections from public performance and broadcast licensing in 2025, plus additional revenue from international markets.
Almost 4,500 of those performers and recording rightsholders are receiving a payment from PPL for the first time.
The distribution takes PPL‘s total payouts since the start of the year to £159.3 million ($211 million).
That follows the £77.7 million PPL distributed in its first-quarter payment, which it reported in April.
The half-year total is down from the £167.8 million PPL had paid out by the same stage of 2025.
This quarter’s £81.6 million sum is also lower than the £96.7 million PPL distributed in Q2 2025.
PPL said the year-on-year decrease partly reflects a faster pay-through of royalties to performers and recording rightsholders.
“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,” said Anne-Marie Pearce, Chief Financial Officer of PPL.
“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.”
“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.”
Anne-Marie Pearce, PPL
Beyond UK collections, the Q2 distribution includes international payments for performers from CMOs in Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the US.
Recording rightsholders received international revenue from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the US.
More than £471,000 ($622,000) 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.
That is down from the more than £1.1 million paid to 278 recording rightsholders through VPL in the same quarter a year earlier.
VPL‘s broadcast and public performance revenue declined throughout 2025, reducing the amount available for payment, PPL said.
“PPL plays such an important role supporting artists and ensuring that our work is fairly valued and properly compensated.”
Ella Henderson, PPL
PPL collects and distributes royalties in the UK and internationally for tens of thousands of performers and recording rightsholders, including Mariah Carey, Charli xcx, Alex Warren and Myles Smith.
It holds 117 agreements with collective management organizations across 55 countries, covering more than 95% of the neighboring rights market by value, PPL says.
“PPL plays such an important role supporting artists and ensuring that our work is fairly valued and properly compensated,” said Ella Henderson, a PPL member.
“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.”
PPL distributed £277.7 million to performers and recording rightsholders across the whole of 2025.
The organization’s revenue for that year rose 4.75% to £315.3 million, and its international arm has collected more than £1 billion in the 20 years since it launched.Music Business Worldwide