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PPL backs Björn Ulvaeus’s Credits Due campaign
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 4 October 2021
UK record industry collecting society PPL has given its backing to Credits Due, the campaign launched by Björn Ulvaeus at the recent Ivor Novello Awards which aims to bring the music industry together to ensure that every track released into the world has decent data attached to it that identifies the specific recording and song, and the people who wrote the song and performed on the record.
Although data standards already exist in the music industry that uniquely identify recordings, songs, songwriters and performers, not all of that data is routinely attached to recordings when they are released. As a result, writers and performers often go uncredited, meanwhile streaming services don’t usually know what specific songs are being streamed, adding some extra complexities to the way songwriters get paid digital royalties.
Credits Due has been launched by the UK’s Ivors Academy and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation, an organisation co-founded by Abba man Ulvaeus.
Launching the campaign last month, he said: “It’s very simple, music recordings must credit all involved and thus ensure that the right people get paid. People ask me why this isn’t the case already and I don’t know what to say. Today, in 2021, there’s really no excuse. If we achieve ‘Credits Due’ it’s a win-win for the whole music industry. Thankfully, a lot of good work is underway and we very much look forward to further support from the industry in finally giving creators the financial recognition they deserve”.
PPL – will runs the main database for the UK record industry and is already involved in a number of other global data initiatives – has confirmed its support for Credits Due, which it calls “a pivotal campaign” to address the wider music rights sector’s data challenges.
PPL boss Peter Leathem says: “The launch of Credits Due is a welcome step towards a harmonised metadata system for the global music industry and PPL is looking forward to working closely with The Ivors Academy and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation to help build a digital music ecosystem that works for everyone”.
“Great strides have already been made in the last decade to introduce standards and technologies that allow metadata to be more easily collected and shared by artists, performers, songwriters, labels, publishers and collection societies, and these developments have supported a decade of growth in PPL’s collections and distributions of neighbouring rights royalties”, he adds. “By supporting further improvements to metadata accuracy, Credits Due and PPL will be making it even easier to accurately pay creators for their hard work – an important goal as our sector returns to growth post-pandemic”.
Welcoming PPL’s support, Ulvaeus says: “I could not be happier with the fantastic launch of the Credits Due initiative at the Ivor Novello Awards and the incredible backing already received from both individuals and organisations across the global music industry. I would like to thank PPL – a company that continues to champion the rights of performers and recording rightsholders – for pledging their support to Credits Due and helping to raise awareness of this important cause”.
Other companies and organisations that have also backed the Credits Due campaign since its launch include BMG and the Independent Music Publishers International Forum.
BMG boss Hartwig Masuch said that “ensuring its songwriter and artist clients are paid fairly, accurately, and speedily should be the priority of every music company – BMG is delighted to lend its support to the Credits Due campaign”, while IMPF President Annette Barrett added: “IMPF is very pleased to be an early supporter of this initiative affording us an additional opportunity to work towards better metadata and increased recognition at point of creation for all those associated with the song”.
