This is a list of the UK’s most-heard recordings of the last 75 years. These are the records that have “outplayed” all others, not just on the radio but everywhere music is heard in public, from cafés to clubs and from high street to hospital radio.
The chart has been produced by PPL, the industry body that licenses recorded music on behalf of more than 3500 record companies. 2009 marks PPL’s 75th anniversary, and this special survey is being revealed first on Radio 2. These are the records that have been spun the most in clubs, pubs, supermarkets, stadiums, on jukeboxes, everywhere, since way back in 1934
History of PPL.
PPL was formed by record companies EMI and Decca in May 1934, following a ground breaking court case against a coffee shop in Bristol.
Using the Copyright Act of 1911 as the basis for its argument, in early 1933 EMI (then called the Gramophone Company) brought a case against Stephen Carwardine & Co, a restaurant in Bristol, which had been keeping its customers entertained by playing the 1931 recording of ‘Overture, The Black Domino’, written by the French composer Auber and played by the London Symphony Orchestra.
EMI said that playing the record in public without the permission of the copyright owners was against the law. The judge, Mr. Justice Maugham, agreed, therefore establishing the principle that those involved in creating a sound recording should be paid for the broadcasting and public performance of their work.
Seizing upon the opportunity to earn more money for their companies and the musicians who helped to drive their business, EMI and Decca co-operated to form PPL and opened the organisation’s first offices in London’s Wigmore Street.
