APRA AMCOS, the organisation responsible for collecting licensing royalties on behalf of Australian musicians and songwriters, have released their Year In Review, unveiling their figures for the 2015 financial year and things are boding pretty well for the future.
“Financial 15 has been an extremely positive year for APRA AMCOS in the face of continuing upheaval in the music industry and a deterioration in the economic outlook and business confidence in Australia generally,” writes APRA AMCOS CEO Brett Cottle AM.
“Of particular note have been the significant growth in foreign royalty earnings for Australian and New Zealand songwriters over the course of the year.” Indeed, foreign performing right revenue shot up 26 percent to $34 million.
This indicates continued growth for Australian music in the foreign market, as last year’s report showed a 24 percent increase in foreign revenue, which marked the most successful year for Australia and New Zealand’s international appeal.
This year saw APRA AMCOS achieve more than $300 million in gross revenue for the first time, with 237,950 songwriters, composers, and music publishers paid by APRA AMCOS, representing 1,011,262 unique songs and compositions.
Some of the key findings of the report included domestic performing right revenue shooting up 5.6 percent to $195 million, reproduction right revenue up two percent to $68 million, and a benchmark in APRA stand-alone net distributable revenue surpassing $200 million.
Naturally, the shift in the digital market from downloads to subscription streaming services contributed significantly to the royalties paid out by APRA. As Cottle notes, the significance of downloads is quickly diminishing.
Image via APRA AMCOS
“In Financial 14 downloads accounted for nearly half of digital licensing revenue. In 15 they accounted for less than a third of digital revenue and in the year ahead they will comprise less than a quarter of a revenue pool that will have grown from $15m pa to more than $24m pa in two years,” he writes.
Interestingly, Cottle notes that despite the stereotype of streaming royalty rates being egregiously low, “royalty rates for writers and publishers are considerably higher than they ever were for ‘old’ media”.
Instead, a lack of “critical mass in consumer take-up” of streaming and the huge volume and diversity of content available via streaming is to blame. According to the organisation’s calculations, consumer take-up of streaming must increase four-fold to achieve income levels equal to a pre-Napster era.
In a surprising turn, figures showed a decline in Australian public performance licensing revenue. This comes after a year in which royalties from public performance and communication increased and revenue from digital sources remained stagnant.
However, as Cottle notes, the shift arises in changes to APRA AMCOS’ business and accounting practice. Having implemented quarterly billing cycles to most licensees, a reduced portion of total license fees will be taken into account during each review.
