APRA required to improve transparency of music licensing and royalties
Greater transparency about licence fees and royalties is a condition of the ACCC reauthorising the Australasian Performing Right Association’s (APRA) musical works licensing arrangements for a further four years.
APRA and its members, including composers, songwriters and publishers, hold performing rights for almost all commercially popular music played or performed in Australia, and earn royalties from those rights. In most cases, members assign these rights on an exclusive basis to APRA, which collects royalties by imposing licence fees on users of that music.