Australia and New Zealand

This page looks at copyright collecting societies in Australia and New Zealand, an integral part of intellectual property rights administration in those countries.

     the societies

The Australian collecting societies (most of which also operate in New Zealand) are:

Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL)

Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd (APRA)

Screenrights, the AudioVisual Copyright Society Ltd (AVCS)

Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Ltd (PPCA)

Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners' Society Ltd (AMCOS)

Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS)

Australian Writers Guild Authorship Collecting Society (AWGACS)

Visual Arts Copyright Collecting Agency (Viscopy) - represents painters, sculptors and other graphic artists

Christian Copyright Licensing Asia-Pacific Pty Ltd

LicenSing

Word of Life Pty Ltd

The societies have reciprocal relations with counterparts offshore, most of which are members of CISAC and IFFRO.

Most are based in Sydney, have a small staff and now have a multi-million dollar turnover each year (supported by extensive information technology operations for the collection of data - several rely heavily on sampling - and the distribution of funds to their members). Overall the Australian societies are regarded as world leaders in terms of governance and efficiency.

     Copyright Agency Ltd

Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) represents authors and publishers. It administers the statutory licence for copying by government agencies and educational institutions of printed material.

CAL was formed in 1974 under the auspices of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA), Australian Book Publishers Association (ABPA) and Australian Copyright Council (ACC) but did not commence operation until 1986. Although the Copyright Act provided that educational institutions were obliged to pay for copying, they were reluctant to do so, preventing CAL's growth. The ASA and ABPA funded several landmark cases, such as Moorhouse v University of New South Wales (1982) and CAL v Department of Education (1985) which provided the necessary impetus.

     APRA

The Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd (APRA) represents composers, lyricists and their publishers. It administers the public performance, broadcasting and cable diffusion rights in musical works (such as music compositions and lyrics). Its major customers are radio and television stations, pay-television operators, venues playing recorded music (eg shopping malls) and online businesses using music in some form. Most revenue comes from Australian broadcasters, with around 17% (in 1999) from overseas.

It was incorporated in 1926 and is the oldest collecting society in Australia. It was established by the British Performing Right Society (PRS), together with a group of local music publishers. Establishment reflected action by writers and publishers to form central clearing houses to administer the performing right in the US (1909) and the UK (1911). It now represents 30,000 music writers and publishers in Australia, with reciprocal representation of over 1.6 million creators overseas.

Since 1997, as part of moves to enhance services and cut costs, APRA has provided services for AMCOS (which remains a separate entity). APRA manages the performing rights of its members; AMCOS manages the reproduction rights of AMCOS members. The joint operation collects over $110 million each year, with an annual distribution of around $95 million.

     Screenrights

Screenrights, the Audio-Visual Copyright Society Ltd, represents owners of copyright in films and other audio-visual products. Those owners include producers, distributors, script writers, music copyright owners, rights owners in artistic works and sound recordings and other rightsholders in film and television. It claims 1,500 members in over 45 countries.

Screenrights administers Australia's statutory scheme for copying by educational institutions (and institutions assisting intellectually handicapped people) of radio and television programs for educational purposes. It has administered a similar educational copying licence in New Zealand since 1998.

It was established in 1990 following lobbying for introduction of the educational audiovisual copying scheme through amendment of the Copyright Act 1968. The Society was formed, under the auspices of the Australian Copyright Council, as the 'declared' collecting body under the Copyright Act. Stakeholders brought together by the ACC included the Audio Visual Distributors Association of Australia, AMCOS, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Film Commission, Australian Record Industry Association, Australian Writers Guild, Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations and Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters.

     AMCOS

The Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners' Society Ltd (AMCOS), administers the rights to reproduce a musical work in a material form ('mechanical' rights), eg to capture a performance on vinyl, tape or a compact disk. It represents record companies and music publishers, two groups that over time have largely come to share a common parent. Commercial recording of music - audio recordings, in film and video or advertising - will generally require at least one licence from AMCOS

In 1956 music publishing companies in Australia established the Copyright Owners Reproduction Society Limited (CORS) to "promote and protect the interests of parties owning or controlling rights of mechanical reproduction in Australia and New Zealand". At that time the J. McFadden Agency was operating as agent for the music publishers in licensing and collection of royalties for mechanical rights. In 1973, CORS was renamed the Australian Music Publishers Association Ltd (AMPAL), which in 1975 formed the ANZ Music Copyright Agency and dispensed with McFadden's services. In 1979 AMPAL established the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited, which commenced business in 1980 and absorbed the ANZ Music Copyright Agency.

AMCOS currently has around 189 music publisher members, most of which are subsidiaries of the top twenty entertainment conglomerates.

     PPCA

The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Ltd (PPCA) represents record companies and music publishers. It administers broadcast and public performance rights in sound recordings and music videos; Australian copyright law gives the owner of a recording - for which the PPCA acts as agent - an exclusive right to make a copy of the recording, cause the recording to be heard in public, broadcast the recording or enter into a commercial rental arrangement in respect of the recording.

The organisation is effectively the licensing arm of the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) and represents between 93% and 97% of owners. The PPCA claims to license over 30,000 venues in Australia, including radio and television stations, clubs, hotels, restaurants, fitness centres, shops, halls and dance instructors. Its customers - and the recordings on which it collects fees - are largely identical to those of APRA, which deals with underlying rights. In 1999 the PPCA collected around $6 million in fees.

It was incorporated in 1969 by the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers (predecessor of ARIA), Actors' Equity and Musicians' Union after the Copyright Act 1968 introduced broadcast and public performance rights in sound recordings. The PPCA provided a vehicle for collective licensing of those rights. Its original shareholders were CBS Records Australia, Electronic Industries (Astor Records), PolyGram Records, RCA, EMI Records, Festival Records and W&G Record Processing (later replaced by WEA Records).

     ASDACS

Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS) is a new kid on the block. It was established by the small but high profile Australian Screen Directors Association (ASDA).

It collects, administers and distributes royalties for film and television directors from certain rights to which they are entitled in European countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland and Holland.

     AWGACS

Australian Writers Guild Authorship Collecting Society (AWGACS) has recently been  established by the Australian Writers Guild to collect royalties for use of its members' scripts

    Viscopy

Visual Arts Copyright Collecting Agency (Viscopy)  represents painters, sculptors and other graphic artists. It administers visual artists' rights over their works, eg collects royalties for publication in magazines, posters and books of paintings and photographs.

Viscopy was established in 1995 by a Federal Government grant following lobbying by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and recommendations in the Simpson Report on copyright collecting societies. Its activity overlaps with that of the much larger CAL: relations between the two organisations have on occasion been tense. It has also been criticised by the Australian Gallery Directors Association.

    the Christian societies

Christian Copyright Licensing Asia-Pacific Pty Ltd (CCLI), LicenSing (a division of MediaCom Inc) and Word of Life Pty Ltd are three 'Christian' copyright collecting societies that act on behalf of US publishers of church music.

    government reports

They were the subject of a 1995 landmark report, the Review of Australian Copyright Collecting Societies, for the Commonwealth government by lawyer Shane Simpson. Simpson is the author of several works on the music industry, most recently Music Business (London: Omnibus 02).

In 1998 the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal & Constitutional Affairs released Don't Stop The Music!, the report of its inquiry into music copyright and small business, in particular the operation of APRA and the PPCA. 150 years after Bourget demanded to be paid for the amenity provided by his music in commercial premises, Australian coffee shops, fitness studios, hair salons and other venues were still claiming that content should be free.

The government's response to both reports was released in January 2001, essentially endorsing the status quo.



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