The recording, not the song — and the one gap PPM does close
Public Performance Malaysia licenses the layer of copyright that sits in the recording itself. Its scope is narrower than most businesses assume in one direction and wider in another, and the difference is worth understanding before you sign anything.
Whose rights PPM holds
Not composers. Recording companies — and only those that have exclusively licensed PPM to control their rights in Malaysia.
Public Performance Malaysia is a not-for-profit collective management organisation representing eligible Malaysian recording companies alongside international recording companies that have exclusively licensed it to act for them in this market. Its repertoire is recordings: sound recordings, music video recordings and karaoke recordings.
That exclusivity condition is doing real work in the sentence, and it is the first thing worth interrogating. PPM’s blanket authorises use of the recordings within its repertoire. A recording whose owner has not licensed PPM to act in Malaysia is not inside that blanket, however comprehensive the licence document appears. The composition side of the same track sits with a different society altogether, which is covered in MACP licence Malaysia.
Where PPM reaches further than most licences
This is the detail that separates the Malaysian recording licence from its equivalents elsewhere, and almost nobody explains it.
Licences issued by PPM in Malaysia cover three uses of the music recordings in its repertoire: the performance, showing and playing to the public; communication to the public, including broadcast; and copying or reproduction for the purposes of those first two.
That third limb matters. In most markets, reproduction is a wholly separate transaction from public performance, and a venue holding performance licences is still exposed the moment audio is cached or stored on a device. Within its repertoire, PPM’s licence reaches the copying that serves the performance. It is the closest thing in the Malaysian society model to closing the reproduction gap.
Three qualifications keep it from being a solution on its own:
- It is bounded by repertoire. Reproduction of a recording outside PPM’s catalogue is not authorised by a PPM licence.
- It is bounded by purpose. Copying for reasons other than the licensed performance or communication falls outside it.
- It says nothing about the composition, the performers’ rights, or the underlying publishing and master rights.
The consequence is that a business can hold a genuinely well-drafted PPM licence, be correct about reproduction for most of its playlist, and still be exposed on the parts of the catalogue that sit outside the repertoire — which is precisely the part it has no visibility of.
The third body, and the territorial limit
Recording Performers Malaysia represents recording artists and musicians, licensing the performances embodied in sound recordings. It is a separate body from PPM with its own membership and its own tariff, which means the recording layer alone can involve two negotiations rather than one.
Acts for recording companies. Licenses the sound, music video and karaoke recordings in its repertoire.
Acts for the artists and musicians whose performances are embodied in those recordings.
Under the society model that is a sixth permission to hold, on top of the five rights a business is already tracking. Where a library is licensed directly at source, the performers’ rights travel with the recording like everything else, and no separate arrangement with Recording Performers Malaysia is needed.
Territory then constrains all of it. Sound recording copyright is granted country by country, and a supplier holding valid reproduction rights in its home market cannot confer Malaysian coverage by invoicing a Malaysian client. When a file is cached on a device in your premises, the act of reproduction happens in Malaysia and the Copyright Act 1987 governs it — and the party who answers is the operator of the premises, not the supplier who sold the system.
Because that exposure lands on the venue, MUSICVYBE notifies the licensing bodies directly when a client comes on board, putting the premises on record as running directly licensed repertoire. The client is copied on that correspondence, so the documentation sits in the venue’s own records from the start.
Common questions
What is a PPM licence?+
It is a licence issued by Public Performance Malaysia authorising the use of sound, music video and karaoke recordings within its repertoire — performance and playing to the public, communication to the public including broadcast, and copying for those purposes.
What is the difference between a MACP and a PPM licence?+
MACP licenses the composition on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers. PPM licenses the recording on behalf of recording companies. They are separate properties in separate repertoires, so one licence never implies the other.
Does a PPM licence cover downloaded or stored music?+
Within its repertoire and for the purposes of the licensed performance or communication, yes — PPM licences extend to copying or reproduction for those purposes. Recordings outside the repertoire, and copying for other purposes, are not covered.
Do I need a licence from Recording Performers Malaysia as well?+
Under the society model, yes. It represents a distinct layer — the performers’ rights in the recordings — with its own membership and tariff, separate from both PPM and MACP. With a directly licensed library the question does not arise, because the rights owner holds the performers’ rights in its own recordings and clears them at source.
How much is a PPM licence fee?+
Each licensing body sets its own tariff independently, and has done since the single-window arrangement was dissolved in 2020. Fees generally turn on premises type, audience or floor area, and how the music is used, so figures from one body do not indicate what another will charge.
One repertoire, cleared at source
MUSICVYBE licenses directly from rights owners, in territory, so performance and reproduction travel together across the whole catalogue — with no repertoire boundary to audit. Fully managed across Lite, Pro and Signature.
Related pages
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| MACP Licence Malaysia | The composition layer, and the four rights it leaves open |
| Music Licence for Business Malaysia | Who is liable, and how to verify a supplier before signing |
| Music Licensing in Malaysia | The overview of every licence a Malaysian business may need |
| Music Licensing Laws in Malaysia | The five rights framework under the Copyright Act 1987 |
| Pricing | Lite, Pro and Signature, fully managed |