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APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or
copyright collective Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective (also known as a copyright society, copyright collecting agency, licensing agency or copyright collecting society or collective management organiz ...
s which jointly represent over 100,000
songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
s,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...
s 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)''. APRA, which formed in 1926, represents
songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
s,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...
s, 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 In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a r ...
,
streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...
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 A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...
, 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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, and the New Zealand office in
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
. There are state/territory offices in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
(for Victoria and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
); Brisbane, Queensland; Adelaide, South Australia;
Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
; and
Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Laragiya language, Larrakia: ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the spa ...
. There are also international representatives in
London, UK London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...
,
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
and New York. APRA is a member and AMCOS associate member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), and AMCOS is a member of the
Bureau International de l'Edition Mécanique The Bureau International de l'Edition Mécanique (BIEM), also known as Bureau International des Sociétés Gérant les Droits d'Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique, is an organisation coordinating statutory licence agreements among diff ...
(BIEM), the international mechanical rights coordinating organisation. APRA AMCOS adheres to a voluntary Code of Conduct for Collecting Societies which was introduced in 2002.


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.


History


APRA

APRA was established in 1926 by a number of companies, to represent the interests of Australasian music copyright holders, and to manage the performance and communication rights of its members. According to the Copyright Act, public performances of music include music played in pubs, clubs, fitness clubs, shops,
cinemas A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
, or at festivals, whether performed live, from radio or television.
Communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...
of music covers music broadcast by TV or radio broadcasters, or accessed via the internet. 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. This arrangement broke down in 1931, with APRA banning the playing of records on air. The Australian Federation of Commercial Broadcasting Stations 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. 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. 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. 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 Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...
services. Thus the licensors include all
major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...
and
independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
s as well as digital service providers (DSPs) such as
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Appl ...
and
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...
, and schools. 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 Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...
or DVD, used as a mobile phone ring tone, digitally downloaded, or used in any audiovisual and broadcast material.


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." 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 The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
commissioned APRA AMCOS to undertake an audit of support infrastructure for
Indigenous music Indigenous music is a term for the traditional music of the indigenous peoples of the world, that is, the music of an "original" ethnic group that inhabits any geographic region alongside more recent immigrants who may be greater in number. The ter ...
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. 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 and APRA members. In 2009,
Sounds Australia Sounds Australia is an Australian organisation established to assist Australian musicians become established overseas. Set up in 2009, Sounds Australia began as an initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts, APRA AMCOS, and the federal gov ...
was created as a joint initiative of the Australia Council and APRA AMCOS. Sounds Australia is "a joint partnership between the Australian Council of the Arts, APRA AMCOS, the
Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...
, ARIA, the PPCA and state government agencies", which promotes and showcases Australian music around the globe. In 2019, APRA AMCOS was a partner in the production of a report entitled ''Born global: Australian music exports'', published by the Australia Council. Also in 2019, APRA AMCOS joined the
Phonographic Performance Company of Australia The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) is a national, non-government, non-profit organisation that represents the interest of record companies and Australian recording artists. The PPCA is a partner organisation supporting So ...
(PPCA) to create OneMusic Australia, a joint licensing initiative.


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.


See also

* Performing Right Society – the reciprocal society serving the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...


References


External links


APRA AMCOS websiteAPRA AMCOS FAQs
{{Authority control Music organisations based in Australia Music organisations based in New Zealand Music licensing organizations Copyright collection societies Music industry associations Australian music industry