APRA AMCOS

Last updated
APRA AMCOS
Founded
  • APRA: 1926
  • AMCOS: 1979
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Key people
Dean Ormston (Chief Executive)
Revenue
  • Increase2.svg $471.8m (2018/19)
  • Increase2.svg $420.2m (2017/18)
  • Increase2.svg $386.6m (2016/17)
Members100,000+ songwriter, composer and publisher members

APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two organisations work together to license public performances and administer performance, communication and reproduction rights on behalf of their members, who are creators of musical works, aiming to ensure fair payments to members and to defend their rights under the Australian Copyright Act (1968) .

Contents

APRA, which formed in 1926, represents songwriters, composers, and music publishers, providing businesses with a range of licences to use copyrighted music. This covers music that is communicated or performed publicly including on radio, television, online, live gigs in pubs and clubs etc. APRA distributes the royalties from these licence fees back to their composer, songwriter and music publisher members and overseas affiliates.

AMCOS, which formed in 1979, is responsible for licensing musical works to third parties who reproduce music via CD, DVD, vinyl recording, downloading, streaming or other digital means of reproduction, issuing what are known as mechanical rights and distributing mechanical royalties to writers and publishers of music and overseas affiliates.

In 1997 the two societies formed an alliance; since then, APRA has managed the day-to-day operations of the AMCOS business, but each has its own board of directors, elected from and by their own membership. They jointly present the APRA Awards each year.

Description

The associations' national and NSW/ACT state/territory offices are located in Sydney, and the New Zealand office in Auckland. There are state/territory offices in Melbourne (for Victoria and Tasmania); Brisbane, Queensland; Adelaide, South Australia; Perth, Western Australia; and Darwin, Northern Territory. There are also international representatives in London, UK, Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles and New York. [1]

APRA is a member and AMCOS associate member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), [2] and AMCOS is a member of the Bureau International de l'Edition Mécanique (BIEM), the international mechanical rights coordinating organisation. [3]

APRA AMCOS adheres to a voluntary Code of Conduct for Collecting Societies which was introduced in 2002. [4] [5]

How it works

It can be difficult or almost impossible to license copyright on an individual basis. The composer of the music, upon joining APRA, assigns their performing and communication right to the organisation. They can also choose whether or not they want AMCOS to administer their reproduction right (excluding print music) including for what purposes. By acting as a link between the users and creators of copyright material, collecting societies like APRA and AMCOS provide a simple means for assisting users to comply with their copyright obligations as well as ensuring that the creators or copyright owners are paid for the use of their work. [6]

History

APRA

APRA was established in 1926 [4] [7] [6] by a number of companies, to represent the interests of Australasian music copyright holders, [8] and to manage the performance and communication rights of its members. [4] [6] According to the Copyright Act, public performances of music include music played in pubs, clubs, fitness clubs, shops, cinemas, or at festivals, whether performed live, from radio or television. Communication of music covers music broadcast by TV or radio broadcasters, or accessed via the internet. [6]

In 1929, commercial radio broadcasters in Sydney and Melbourne paid APRA £7 a week for royalties, with music broadcasts limited to 66 hours a week. [8] This arrangement broke down in 1931, with APRA banning the playing of records on air. The Australian Federation of Commercial Broadcasting Stations [9] [10] was established in that year to resolve royalty and copyright related issues and as a result, member broadcasters agreed to pay a fixed sum for broadcasting rights.[ citation needed ]

With the introduction of the Australian Copyright Act 1968, APRA extended its services to any Australian business with copyright obligations. Demand for the service increased steadily over the following thirty years and by 2005, APRA represented the interests of 28,000 members within Australasia, and about two million creative artists and publishers from elsewhere in the world, and gathered $146 million in royalty payments, of which $127 million was distributed to copyright holders. [11]

Today the Association provides businesses with a range of licences to use copyrighted music with APRA monitoring radio and television stations, concert promoters and cinemas in particular.

AMCOS

The Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) was established in 1979 to manage mechanical royalties, i.e. the reproduction or copying and storage of music in any format. [4] [6] These royalties are generated each time "an original musical work is licensed by a third party and commercially reproduced or sold", whether on CD, DVD or vinyl recordings, music downloads or via streaming services. Thus the licensors include all major and independent record labels as well as digital service providers (DSPs) such as Apple Music and Spotify, and schools. [12]

According to the Copyright Act, reproduction of music entails the making of any type of copy of a work, whether recorded on a CD recording, video or DVD, used as a mobile phone ring tone, digitally downloaded, or used in any audiovisual and broadcast material. [6]

1997: Alliance

Since 1997 the two societies formed a collaboration representing composers and lyricists, to provide "a one-stop service to music creators and music customers." [4] [13] As of August 2019 The two organisations jointly host their website, named APRA AMCOS.

21st century

In 2004, APRA appointed an Indigenous Project Officer. The Australia Council for the Arts commissioned APRA AMCOS to undertake an audit of support infrastructure for Indigenous music in Australia, which will be used as a guide for the Australia Council and other agencies responsible for policy development and funding of Indigenous music. [6]

In 2008 and 2009, APRA supported aggressive new copyright law in New Zealand, including punishment of persons accused but not proven to be infringing copyright. This position was opposed by artists [14] and APRA members. [15]

In 2009, Sounds Australia was created as a joint initiative of the Australia Council and APRA AMCOS. [16] Sounds Australia is "a joint partnership between the Australian Council of the Arts, APRA AMCOS, the Australian Government, ARIA, the PPCA and state government agencies", which promotes and showcases Australian music around the globe. [17]

In 2019, APRA AMCOS was a partner in the production of a report entitled Born global: Australian music exports, published by the Australia Council. [16] [18] Also in 2019, APRA AMCOS joined the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) to create OneMusic Australia, a joint licensing initiative. [19]

APRA Awards

In Australia, APRA AMCOS hosts a number of awards to honour achievements by local songwriters, including the APRA Music Awards, the Art Music Awards for classical music (in association with the Australian Music Centre), and the Screen Music Awards (in association with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers).

In New Zealand, the annual Silver Scroll is awarded by an anonymous judging panel to the year's best-written song on commercial release. Also awarded are the songs receiving the most airplay in New Zealand and overseas for the year.

APRA billion streams list

The APRA billion streams list was established in 2019 by APRA AMCOS to acknowledge Australasian songwriters whose works have achieved one billion (1,000,000,000) streams on various services.

Live Music Office

The Live Music Office was set up by the Federal Government and APRA AMCOS in order to develop a coordinated policy response to challenges facing the Australian live music industry. It advocates for better policies, strategies, and regulation. [20] The office is housed within the APRA AMCOS building, and is funded by APRA AMCOS, the federal government, and Creative Australia. It is housed within their Sydney office. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

The APRA Music Awards in Australia are annual awards to celebrate excellence in contemporary music, which honour the skills of member composers, songwriters, and publishers who have achieved outstanding success in sales and airplay performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Mason (musician)</span> Australian keyboardist

Roger Ashley Mason is an Australian keyboardist who has been a member of new wave groups Models, Absent Friends and Icehouse. He was a session and backing musician for United Kingdom's Gary Numan and for various Australian artists. From the early 1990s he has composed music for television and feature films.

Caitlin Yeo is an Australian musician and film composer, whose credits include the feature film Jucy, All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, and The Rocket. Yeo is a graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School and Sydney University. Her work has won a number of awards including 2007 APRA AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Documentary and 2011 APRA Professional Development Award and received nominations in 2008, 2010 and 2012. She also teaches composition and film music theory at The Australian Institute of Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">APRA Music Awards of 2012</span>

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2012 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2012 was the 30th annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 28 May 2012 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Art Music Awards were introduced in 2011 to replace the Classical Music Awards and were distributed on 3 April at the Sydney Opera House. They are sponsored by APRA and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) to "recognise achievement in the composition, performance, education and presentation of Australian music". The Screen Music Awards were issued on 19 November by APRA and Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), which "acknowledges excellence and innovation in the genre of screen composition".

Joel Fletcher Allan, better known as Joel Fletcher, is a music producer and DJ from Melbourne, Australia, who is best known for his 2013 remix of New Zealand rapper Savage's 2005 single "Swing", which charted in Australia and in New Zealand. In 2014, Fletcher was a support act for Avicii's headline tour for the Melbourne and Brisbane dates. At the APRA Music Awards of 2015, Fletcher won Dance Work of the Year for "Swing ", which was co-written by Fletcher, Demetrius Savelio, Nathan Holmes and Aaron Ngawhika.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2013 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2013 was the 31st annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 17 June 2013 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Australian Performing Right Association Awards of 2014 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2014 was the 32nd annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 23 June 2014 at the Brisbane City Hall, for the first time. The host for the ceremony was Brian Nankervis, adjudicator on SBS-TV's RocKwiz.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2015 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2015 was the 33rd annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 24 March 2015 at the Carriageworks, Sydney. The host for the ceremony was Brian Nankervis, adjudicator on SBS-TV's RocKwiz.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2016 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2016 was the 34th annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 5 April 2016 at the Carriageworks, Sydney. The host for the ceremony was Brian Nankervis, adjudicator on SBS-TV's RocKwiz.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2017 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2017 was the 35th annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 3 April 2017 at the International Convention Centre Sydney. The host for the ceremony was Julia Zemiro, presenter on SBS-TV's RocKwiz.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 1999 are a series of awards held in May 1999. The APRA Music Awards were presented by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Only one classical music award was available in 1999: Most Performed Contemporary Classical Composition. APRA provided awards for "Best Television Theme", and "Best Film Score" in 1999. APRA and AMCOS also sponsored the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), which provided their own awards ceremony, from 1996 to 2000, with categories for film and TV composers.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2018 are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2018 was the 36th annual ceremony by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to award outstanding achievements in contemporary songwriting, composing and publishing. The ceremony was held on 10 April 2018 at the International Convention Centre Sydney. The host for the ceremony was Julia Zemiro.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 1998 are a series of awards held in May 1998. The APRA Music Awards were presented by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). The awards resumed in 1998 after a hiatus in 1997.

The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 1996 are a series of awards held in May 1996. The APRA Music Awards were presented by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). APRA and AMCOS did not provide any awards in 1997, after the hiatus they resumed the annual ceremony in APRA Music Awards of 1998.

The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) is a not for profit organisation, which was established in 1981, "to represent the interests of Australian screen composers by developing and promoting employment opportunities, undertaking educational initiatives and increasing their profile amongst the industry." It was established by Bruce Smeaton and Bruce Rowland. The Guild's head offices are in Sydney, with successive presidents from 1987 being Bob Young (1987–91), Martin Armiger (1992–98), Chris Neal (1999–2000), Art Phillips (2001–08), Clive Harrison (2008–11), Guy Gross (2012–17), Caitlin Yeo (2018–20) and Antony Partos (2020–present). Since 1991 it has been sponsored by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).

The APRA Music Awards of 2019 are the 37th annual awards given in the series of awards together known as APRA Awards, given in 2019. The awards are given in a series of categories in three divisions and in separate ceremonies throughout the year: the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards and Screen Music Awards. They are given by the Australasian Performing Right Association and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, known jointly as APRA AMCOS.

The APRA Music Awards of 2020 are the 38th annual series, known as APRA Awards, in 2020. The awards are given in a series of categories in three divisions and in separate ceremonies throughout the year: the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards and Screen Music Awards. They are provided by the Australasian Performing Right Association and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, known jointly as APRA AMCOS. In mid-February the associations announced that the previous category, Overseas Recognition Award, would be replaced by Global APRA Music Awards with separate ceremonies at three locations: Los Angeles for western North American-based artists, Nashville for central and eastern North American-based artists and London for European-based artists.

Neil Campbell Sutherland is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based screen music composer and musician. His work on Getaway (1994–present), MythBusters (2003–2016), Border Security (2004–present), Dancing with the Stars (2004–present) and Bondi Vet (2009–2016) has resulted in 14 consecutive Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas Awards at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Awards from 2008 to 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Contact us". APRA AMCOS. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "[Members] By Country". CISAC. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  3. ↑ "AMCOS (Non-voting society)". BIEM. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "What We Do". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies". Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "APRA and AMCOS". Music in Australia. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  7. ↑ Encyclopedia of Australian Events 1997. Macquarie Library. 1997.
  8. 1 2 Encyclopedia of Australian Events 1997. Macquarie Library. 1997.
  9. ↑ <ref "Commercial Stations". The Age . No. 26, 138. Victoria, Australia. 25 January 1939. p. 14. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "Commercial Broadcasting Stations' Convention". The Mercury . Vol. CLXIV, no. 23, 698. Tasmania, Australia. 19 November 1946. p. 17. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "About Us".
  12. ↑ "AMCOS FAQs for songwriters and composers". APRA AMCOS. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Encyclopedia of Australian Events 1997. Macquarie Library. 1997.
  14. ↑ "Creative Freedom Foundation". Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  15. ↑ Pat Pilcher (22 January 2009). "Copyright law dust-up turns into a war of words". The New Zealand Herald.
  16. 1 2 Australia Council. "Born global: Australian music exports" (PDF). Australia Council. Retrieved 16 October 2019. This report is a summary of findings from the 2016-2019 ARC Linkage project: The economic and cultural value of Australian music exports.
  17. ↑ "About Us". Sounds Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "New research highlights Australian music's global export value and strong international success". Australia Council. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  19. ↑ "About". OneMusic. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  20. ↑ "About Us". Live Music Office. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  21. ↑ "About Us". Live Music Office. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.