U.K. music licensing company PPL delivered record revenues last year, generating £272.6m, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%.

It’s the highest figure in the company’s 89-year history. The number was boosted by the bounce back of revenues from the use of recorded music in public places, which grew 39.8% to £100.8m (a figure that’s also up from the pre-pandemic collection of £99.6m).

Revenues from the licensing of recorded music for radio, TV and online grew 8.4% to £94m. International revenues dipped 17% to £77.8m; PPL says this is due to the proportion of income collected from past periods declining as a result of CMOs speeding up distribution payouts.

More than 165k musicians and rightsholders received royalties from PPL last year, up 12.6% on 2021.

PPL Chief Exec Peter Leathem said the results are “a testament to the quality of the team, the technology and our data at PPL; but that is nothing without the creativity and hard work of our members, who create the millions of high quality recordings being enjoyed by fans every day.”