In mid 2019, a new service alliance – OneMusic Australia – will launch. OneMusic Australia will replace the need to obtain at least two licences to play music, one from APRA AMCOS to cover the rights of songwriters, publishers and composers and one from PPCA to cover the rights of recording artists and record labels, a distinction for many decades most businesses had difficulty understanding.

The move to create OneMusic Australia was motivated by requests from business owners. OneMusic Australia will deliver benefits to all retailers by offering:

• one online payment to cover all music rights;
• oneannual review of your licence coverage, and;
• one point of contact.

OneMusic Australia will launch with new licence schemes for every industry sector. To do that we have undertaken extensive modeling and compared the retail industry to other industries we license. We have broadly defined the retail industry to include not only product retailers such as supermarkets but service retailers such as hairdressers, banks, real estate and medical practices.

We want to hear your thoughts on the proposed new retailers and service providers licence scheme. Submissions can be made up until 8 June 2018.

What’s on the table

For the first time in more than a decade,[1] under the proposal we have issued, most retailers will have a slight increase in fees. A driving factor for a review of fees for retail music use is the expectations of our music creator members and licensors that all industries be treated equitably.

Our proposal explains in more detail why we suggest an increase as well as how we plan to phase in any increases over three years. For the vast majority of retailers in Australia who currently hold both an APRA AMCOS licence and a PPCA licence, the increase will be less than $100 per year.

We are open to feedback from all in the retail sector and this can be done online before 8 June 2018. During the consultation period, if you think there is a better way to structure the scheme for your industry, then we would d be happy to hear from you.

Background

Most retailers would have heard of APRA AMCOS and PPCA, membership organisations which provide short-cut permission to legally use millions of original songs and recordings in Australia.

For many decades, these organisations have operated separately to contact retailers, review their size and particular music use and then offer a licence fee as a fair exchange – giving permission for annual use.

Enquiries

questions@onemusic.com.au

APRA stands for the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and AMCOS stands for the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited. APRA AMCOS grants licences for the live performance, broadcast, communication, public playing or reproduction of its members’ musical works. APRA AMCOS then distributes the licence fees collected to its over 95,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members, and affiliated societies worldwide.

PPCA is the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Ltd. PPCA grants licences for the broadcast, communication or public playing of recorded music (such as CDs, records and digital downloads or streams) or music videos. PPCA then distributes the net licence fees collected to its licensors (generally record labels) and registered recording artists.

[1] Other than CPI adjustments