Australasian Performing Right Association Limited

APRA sought re-authorisation to continue its arrangements for the acquisition and licensing of performing and communication rights in music. The arrangements cover:

a.   ‘input arrangements’ -

o    the assignment of performing and communication rights by members to APRA and the terms on which membership of APRA is granted and

o    APRA’s reciprocal arrangements with overseas collecting societies by which, for the most part, the collecting societies grant each other the exclusive right to license works they respectively control

b.   ‘output arrangements’ – the licensing arrangements between APRA and the users of musical works and

c.   ‘distribution arrangements’– by which APRA distributes to relevant members the fees it has collected from licensees/users.

Re-authorisation was sought for five years.

On 5 June 2019, the ACCC released a draft determination proposing to re-authorise APRA’s arrangements, subject to conditions, for five years. A copy of the draft determination is available from the links below.

On 13 July 2020, the ACCC released a final determination granting conditional authorisation to enable APRA to continue its arrangements for the acquisition and licencing of performing rights in musical works for a further four years. The conditions of authorisation primarily focus on improving the transparency of APRA’s licencing and distribution arrangements.

The ACCC’s determination, which includes further details of the conditions imposed, is available by following the link below.