Fill the ISRC column of a PPL track report
PPL is the UK's neighbouring-rights society for recorded music, and the ISRC is a mandatory attribute in its repertoire database: the key it uses to match reported plays to registered recordings. Playout logs almost never carry it.
Bulk Lookup turns the log you have into the report PPL asks for. Import the CSV your playout system exports (or paste artist + title lines), match them against 93M+ recordings, and every line comes back carrying its ISRC, record label, and album: the columns a PPL track report centres on.
Resolve your play log in the Bulk Lookup tool in your Sonovault dashboard. A free account includes 1,000 lookups a month. No credit card needed.
🇬🇧 What PPL needs from your report
PPL licenses the use of sound recordings across the UK (on broadcast, online, and in public) and distributes the money to record companies and performers. It's the recording side of the coin; PRS for Music licenses the underlying song (the composition) and is always a separate licence. Since 2018 the two jointly run PPL PRS Ltd for a single public-performance licence, but broadcast and webcast licensing, and the reporting that comes with it, stay with PPL itself.
PPL's reporting is contractual and concrete. Its Linear Webcast Licence defines a track-by-track Programme Report with nine fields per recording: date of webcast, time of transmission, programme title, duration used in seconds, ISRC, recording title including version or mix, record label and catalogue number, artist name as released, and the number of performances. Commercial radio licensees likewise report every track played, usually exported straight from the playout system. On the distribution side, the ISRC is a mandatory data attribute for a recording in PPL's 28-million-track repertoire database, and registering and matching both run on it.
The gap most reporters hit: a playout system exports date, time, artist, and title, but a PPL Programme Report also asks for the ISRC, the record label and catalogue number, the exact version or mix title, and the duration in seconds. Those are catalog fields, not log fields, and they're the part Sonovault fills in.
No usable play log? Build one from the stream
Bulk Lookup assumes you already have a log. If your playout system exports nothing usable, or you need evidence of what actually aired rather than what the scheduler intended, Sonovault can build the log instead of enriching one.
Point us at your Icecast or Shoutcast stream URL and every recording is identified as it airs, into a timestamped spin log with the ISRC already attached. An airplay report over any date range then gives you per-track play counts alongside a row for each individual airing. That is close to the shape of a PPL Programme Report, which asks for the date, time, and duration of each use alongside the ISRC, the recording title and mix, the label, the artist, and the number of performances.
Monitoring is billed per active station, separately from your API plan. Reading your own spin logs and airplay reports costs no API credits.
PPL reporting at a glance
Checked against PPL's published licence terms and 2026 fee summary. Always confirm current requirements with PPL before you file.
LicencesTraditional Radio Licence for Ofcom-licensed stations, a joint PPL–PRS licence for community radio, and the Linear Webcast Licence for online-only linear streams. A PRS for Music licence is always required separately.Report fieldsThe Linear Webcast Programme Report defines nine per-track fields: date, time, programme title, duration in seconds, ISRC, recording title incl. mix/version, record label + catalogue number, artist, and play count.FrequencyWebcast bands 1–2 file listener-hour reports twice a year (due 28 January and 28 July), with track-level reports on request; band 3 files quarterly, track-level included when a digital playout system is used.DeadlineReports are due within 20 working days of the end of the reporting period.2026 webcast feesBand 1 (≤150K streams/yr) £207 flat; band 2 (≤270K) £345 flat; band 3 £691 advance recouped at £0.00138 per stream (per channel, ex VAT).How to submitPPL provides reporting templates and requests reports by email: linearwebcast@ppluk.com for webcast, radiobroadcasting@ppluk.com for radio.Spot-checkPPL's public Repertoire Search (repsearch.ppluk.com) lets you verify any ISRC against its repertoire database before you file.How it works
- 1
Paste your artist + title list
Drop in a column of tracks (a station play log, a setlist, or a catalog export), one per line, up to 1,000. Or import a CSV and map the Artist and Title columns.
- 2
Resolve to ISRC + label
Press Resolve. Each line is matched to a canonical recording and its ISRC, album, and record label: the fields a usage report relies on to identify a recording.
- 3
Download the enriched file
Export a CSV with Artist, Title, Album, Label, and ISRC for every track, then map those columns to the format your society's report expects.
What Sonovault adds to each track
One row per track, enriched with the recording identifier and clean release data your report needs.
ArtistThe featured artist, cleaned to its canonical spelling.TitleThe recording's title, normalised against the catalog.AlbumThe release the recording appears on.LabelThe record label that released the recording.ISRCThe 12-character recording code, upper-cased: the reliable recording identifier.ISRC, plus clean metadata
ISRC is PPL's primary matching key for recordings and a named field in its report spec, backed by recording title with mix/version, artist, and label with catalogue number.
The 12-character recording code, mandatory in PPL's repertoire database and named in the Programme Report field list. Radio edits, remasters, and reissues each carry their own, so the right code names the exact recording that aired.
The Programme Report wants the recording title including version or mix, the artist as released, and the record label with catalogue number. Sonovault returns clean, canonical values for each, normalised against a 90M-recording catalog.
Common uses
Broadcast / airplay reporting
PPL licensees supply usage reports of the recordings they played. Resolve your play log once and attach the ISRC and label PPL matches on.
Linear webcast Programme Reports
Online stations on the Linear Webcast Licence report track-by-track with a defined field list. Turn an artist + title log into a file that fills the ISRC, label, and title/mix columns.
Register your repertoire
Rightsholders registering recordings need ISRC, recording title, artist, and label per track. Pull the ISRCs for a whole catalog in one pass.
Recover missing ISRCs
Match older or third-party recordings against a 90M-recording catalog to recover their codes, then spot-check them in PPL Repertoire Search before filing.
Reporting to another collecting society?
Sonovault supplies the ISRC and metadata for these reporting flows too.
Frequently asked questions
Enrich your report free
A free Sonovault account includes 1,000 lookups a month. Paste your artist + title list, resolve it to ISRC, album, and label, and export the file. No credit card, no code.
Not affiliated with PPL. Sonovault is an independent music metadata service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). We supply ISRC, label, and release data; you are responsible for your own membership, licences, and reporting, and for confirming PPL's current requirements. Always verify data before you submit it. Official sources: PPL - Linear Webcast Licence · PPL - broadcast data reporting · PPL - register your repertoire · PPL Repertoire Search.