PPL and PRS for Music joint venture marks fifth anniversary

PPL and PRS for Music’s joint venture is celebrating its fifth anniversary with £1 billion in public performance revenues distributed since it launched.

It was on 28th February 2018, after two years of planning and preparation, that the first joint venture of its kind in the world opened its doors to make it easier for music to be played and performed in public.

Since then, more than £1 billion in public performance royalties has been distributed to music creators and rightsholders via PPL and PRS for Music.

The joint venture saw hundreds of thousands of music users transition from the two parent companies to a new joint licence, ‘TheMusicLicence’, ending the need for customers (including shops, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, live sports and music festivals) to purchase separate PPL and PRS for Music licences.

TheMusicLicence allows companies to broadcast music, including radio stations that broadcast music, in public.

PPL PRS Ltd Managing Director, Andrea Gray said: “PPL PRS is continuing to grow and work with more businesses to bring the benefit of playing music to their customers and employees, and I look forward to building on the successes of 2022 and ensuring that 2023 sees another record year for all the hard working music creators and rightsholders that PPL PRS help to support.”

The joint venture was initially announced in February 2016. Later that year, competition clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority was given and PPL and PRS for Music signed a shareholders’ agreement that set out how the joint venture company would be owned and operated.

“The Company is equally owned by PPL and PRS for Music and its Board comprises PPL PRS senior management team members as well as representatives from both PPL and PRS for Music.