Today at the PPL Annual Performer Meeting (APM), it was announced that PPL-registered performers have elected Decibelle Management founder Hannah Joseph as a Performer Director and have also re-elected Musicians’ Union General Secretary Horace Trubridge as a Performer Director. Both will sit on the PPL Performer Board and main PPL Board.

The APM looked back over the 2020 financial year with a particular focus on performer-related activities, as outlined in the recently published Annual Performer Review. It also updated members on 2021 progress and the positive impact the lifting of lockdown restrictions has started to have on public performance collections. PPL predicts its revenue will recover this year to beat 2020’s results but will not yet exceed pre-COVID 19 levels. The meeting also touched on PPL’s support of the music industry through COVID-19, its lobbying for the recognition of performer rights around the world and its progress towards delivering the UK Music Diversity Taskforce’s Ten-Point Plan. The meeting included addresses from Chair John Smith and Chief Executive Officer Peter Leathem alongside presentations from Director of Membership and Communications Sarah Mitchell, Director of International Laurence Oxenbury and Chief People Officer Kate Reilly. General Counsel and Company Secretary David Harmsworth announced the results of this year’s Performer Director elections.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Leathem said:
“We warmly welcome the election of Hannah Joseph and the re-election of Horace Trubridge as Performer Directors, whose knowledge and experience will no doubt help PPL continue to deliver for its members. I would also like to thank Robin Firman for his valuable contribution to PPL over the last three years as he steps down.

“Last year PPL faced a year unlike any other as a result of COVID-19. Alongside the many challenges that the pandemic presented, it gave us a renewed sense of purpose as we looked to support our members and the wider music community through these tough and uncertain times. This drive continued into 2021 and I am cautiously optimistic that revenues this year will be higher than in 2020.

“Despite the many challenges that we have faced during the pandemic, I am proud of how much PPL has achieved in the last year. We continued to drive forward our equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda, introducing a number of new policies and initiatives and also creating the role of EDI Partner to support PPL in delivering its long-term strategy of addressing EDI issues both within the company and the wider music industry. Our collaboration with industry partners to improve the quality of recorded music metadata also continued, working with the likes of VEVA Collect, Credits Due, Session, IFPI, WIN and others. Whether it is facilitating data flows between rightsholders and CMOs or capturing comprehensive music credits, these partnerships and initiatives all help in various ways to support accurate and timely royalty payments.”

PPL has six Performer Directors who, after today’s election, are:

• Roxanne de Bastion – Performer Director
• Jackie Davidson MBE – Performer Director
• Hannah Joseph – Performer Director
• David Stopps – Performer Director
• Peter Thoms – Performer Director
• Horace Trubridge – Performer Director

 More details of PPL’s Board directors can be found here.