This week, a significant shift in UK copyright law emerged with limited press attention but potentially wide-reaching impact. This amendment promises a new, or rather renewed, stream of neighbouring rights royalties for some overseas featured and non-featured performers – a change that could mean substantial new income for numerous artists.
Understanding Neighbouring Rights
At its core, ‘neighbouring rights’ relate to the broadcast and public performance of sound recordings. Each time a sound recording is publicly performed – whether on radio or in public venues – the relevant artist(s), performer(s), producer(s) and record label(s) are entitled to neighbouring rights royalties. The term “neighbouring” simply indicates that these rights exist alongside (or “neighbour”) the broadcast and public performance rights associated with musical compositions.
Neighbouring rights royalties are typically split equally: 50% goes to the sound recording copyright owner (usually the record label), known as the “rightsholder’s share”, while the remaining 50% goes to the performer(s) on the recording (including all the artists and session musicians), known as the “performer’s share”. The performer’s share is commonly referred to as their ‘equitable remuneration’ (‘ER’).
In the UK, PPL serves as the collective management organisation (CMO) responsible for collecting these royalties from UK broadcasters and venues and redistributing them to rights holders and performers.
How Does The Global Neighbouring Rights System Work?
To collect royalties internationally, CMOs often establish reciprocal agreements with their counterparts in other countries. For example, PPL in the UK has a reciprocal agreement in place with its counterpart, GVL, in Germany. This ensures that when Murder On The Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor is played on German radio, GVL collects and forwards the royalties to PPL, which then distributes payments to the record label and performers.
However, not all countries have these agreements in place. In Australia, performers do not have a statutory right to ER under its Copyright Act, and since 2014, there has been no reciprocal agreement between the UK’s PPL and Australia’s PPCA. The royalties PPCA collects are paid on an ex-gratia basis, and only to Australian registered featured performers – not session musicians, non-featured performers, or producers.
This policy gap meant that, starting in 2013, PPL ceased ER payments to Australian performers for UK broadcasts. The impact was immediate and sweeping: Australian artists and session musicians were cut off from equitable remuneration for UK performances. Even massive hits like Dance Monkey by Tones and I earned no UK broadcast royalties for the artist or session musicians.
What’s Changing in UK Copyright Law
The UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) recently announced a proposed amendment to copyright legislation that will expand ER eligibility to certain foreign featured and non-featured performers, but only under specific conditions. The ‘producer’ (meaning the copyright owner – typically the record label) must be based in the UK or in a country that is a signatory to the Rome Convention.
Whilst this amendment is set to benefit performers from countries like Australia, it will not extend to US performers, as the US has not ratified the Rome Convention. The IPO explained that including performers from non-signatory countries would cost UK record labels an estimated £7.4 million annually, representing about a 5.3% drop in annual profits, and potentially impacting their ability to invest in new British talent. By limiting the eligibility to Rome Convention signatories, the IPO expects the impact on UK record labels to be around £1.5 million annually.
Implications for Australian Performers and Beyond
This move further highlights Australia’s uniquely restrictive stance on performer rights. While Australian producers and session musicians will now be eligible for ER from UK plays, they remain excluded from receiving such royalties for plays in their own home country. Meanwhile, whilst Dance Monkey will now generate ER in the UK, non-Australian artists like Ed Sheeran will still receive nothing from Australian broadcasts. Whether this change will prompt a policy shift in Australia – especially with a federal election in 2025 and a copyright debate over radio royalty caps already underway – remains uncertain.
What Should Newly Qualified Performers Do?
Performers from newly eligible territories should register with PPL or engage a neighbouring rights specialist to facilitate their registration.
Once registered, performers can search PPL’s database to identify recordings on which they have participated. The first payments are expected to be distributed in the last quarter of 2025.