UK collecting society PPL has announced its Q1 2021 distribution to artists and recorded music rightsholders, and it’s a good (if bleak) marker for the impact that Covid-19 has had on performance rights collections.

PPL is distributing £61.3m to its members, which is 30% down on the £87.6m it distributed in Q1 2020.

A number of collecting societies warned last year that the impact of Covid-19’s lockdowns – venues and businesses that play music included – might be felt most early in 2021, and that seems to be the case. Interestingly, PPL’s distributions from international collections held up fairly well: they were £31.2m in Q1 last year, and £28.1m in Q1 this year, so a fall of 9.9%. PPL noted in its announcement that it has now distributed £308.8m since the start of the pandemic.

In separate news, PPL has donated to the fourth round of management body the MMF’s ReBuild Fund, which provides emergency support to management companies. The Brit Awards and Hipgnosis Songs Fund are also chipping in for the latest round.

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