Ask APRA: A band is performing my songs - can they do this without my permission?

12 October 2009

by Allison Gumbleton, APRA/AMCOS Communications

Yes, in most cases, anyone can perform your songs, as long as the venue or the person authorising the performance has an APRA licence in place. And lucky for you, most public performances of a musical work entitle the copyright owner to a royalty.

Firstly, ensure that you have applied to join APRA and that your songs are registered with us, then tell us when and where it was performed.
 By way of background, APRA|AMCOS does collectively what would otherwise be difficult for individual songwriters or music users to do. On behalf of songwriters and music publishers, we collect licence fees from music consumers (nightclubs, cafes, radio stations, TV stations, digital service providers etc) and from this, we distribute royalties to songwriters and music publishers.

The APRA licence gives a venue a blanket licence authorising the performance of all copyrighted music.
 Getting your royalty money is easy. Simply go to the APRA|AMCOS website (apra-amcos.com.au), login to the online membership facility and submit a Live Performance Return (LPR). Both the performer and the copyright owner can report the performance.

An LPR allows APRA to keep track of where and what is performed, so royalties can be allocated accordingly. APRA collects licence fees from venues that host live music, placing the money collected into what we call a “distribution pool”. Using the fees collected and the information submitted by our members (through LPR), APRA is able to distribute royalties accordingly.

Live performance royalties are adjusted according to the amount of money APRA has in the Live Performance Pool; this fluctuates year to year. On average, payment has been around $1.00+ per song per standard performance.
 Don’t worry, if you accidently forget to submit your LPR before the cut off date we do allow retrospective claims, but only back three financial years - Speak to your local Writer Services Representative for authorisation.

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