This year marks the 100th anniversaries of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).
To commemorate the occasion, both artists’ rights organisations will unite in Sydney to confront a significant threat impacting performers, songwriters and composers worldwide: the rise of generative AI.
The CISAC Board of Directors, which represents 228 societies across 111 countries, will convene in Australia for the first time in 25 years, where they’ll be hosted by APRA AMCOS (since 1997, APRA has been partnered with the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society).
Leaders of major collective organisations, such as APRA AMCOS (representing Australia and New Zealand), ASCAP (US), GEMA (Germany), PRS for Music (UK), JASRAC (Japan), and others, will gather in Sydney for a large-scale meeting this week.
In a united fashion, APRA AMCOS, CISAC, and additional organisations are at the forefront of the ongoing debate about copyright and generative AI.
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APRA AMCOS recently launched the landmark AI and Music report, which moved the needle on the national debate on AI and music in Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, CISAC commissioned a study that found the market for generative AI could reach €16 billion ($26 billion) annually by 2028. The study also found that 24% of music creators’ revenue could be at risk without effective regulation and licensing frameworks targeting generative AI.
Australia just became the first major global jurisdiction to rule out a Text and Data Mining exception to copyright laws—APRA AMCOS central to the negotiations.
APRA AMCOS CEO, Dean Ormston, named Chair of CISAC in 2025, explained, “APRA and CISAC have been advocating for creators’ rights for 100 years, and to be able to meet on home soil to both celebrate our history and look forward to our next 100 years together is a great honour.
“We stand strong in our collaboration with CMOs from around the world, united under the CISAC banner, as we advocate for the value of human creativity in the face of the AI revolution.”
Ormston added that protecting creators’ rights is “not optional.”
He continued, “Creators are the cultural, social and economic fabric of every nation. Protecting them, and in particular creators of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, is not optional. It is exactly what APRA, CISAC and our global network of societies exist to do and have existed to do for one hundred years.”
CISAC Director General Gadi Oron said: “The scale of transformation we are witnessing today calls for the same collective resolve that defined our founding a century ago.
“Our responsibility — now as always — is to ensure that innovation strengthens the creative economy rather than diminishes it, and that creators receive a fair share of the value their works generate. Human creativity is the fuel that powers AI systems, and it must be protected, respected and fairly remunerated.”
