Copyright body PPL have signed a reciprocal agreement with their Irish equivalent, PPI, covering record company (ie recording) rights for broadcasting and public performance in the UK and Ireland. Under the deal, PPI will represent UK indies in Ireland for broadcast and public performance and PPL will be able to collect and distribute licence fees to Irish indies. This is the fifth agreement PPL have signed with partner bodies around the world in recent months – similar agreements were made with the Australian society PPCA, Dutch society SENA, German society GVL, and Canadian society AVLA.
Dominic McGonigal, director of strategy and business development at PPL, told us: “I am delighted to have signed this fifth reciprocal agreement – we promised the indies that we would start unlocking this international income and that is exactly what we’ve done. This really is excellent news for our independent record company members”. PPI’s CEO Dick Doyle added, “We are pleased to now be in a position to give practical support to our independent members in securing their UK licensees. We intend to continue this process with other main markets as soon as possible."