APRA AMCOS Records Massive Growth In Royalties From Streaming

Some pretty amazing news was quietly dropped by APRA AMCOS recently, announcing that the industry body had recorded a massive year-on-year growth in royalty earnings as a result of digital streaming services.

The collection society explained in a statement that, during the third quarter of 2015 (July to September), it recorded an increase of 178% in earnings from Spotify, in addition to a 91% increase in earnings from YouTube. Apple Music, while a much newer service, is also starting to make a splash following APRA AMCOS' adoption of the service; it will appear in its second quarterly distribution of royalties soon.

"We are thrilled to see digital earnings increase exponentially," APRA AMCOS chief executive Brett Cottle said in the statement. "We're also extremely proud of the speed with which we've been able to distribute revenue from Apple Music."

The growth in streaming royalties mirrors APRA AMCOS' wider trend of paying more to its songwriters, too, with the number of writer members receiving royalties increasing by 28% year on year, while the overall number of works receiving sweet, sweet cash is up by 18%.

In addition, APRA AMCOS will introduce a new system, CLEF, in early 2017, in order to "enable a considerably reduced commission rate on digital royalties, and provide a faster turnaround in payments", Cottle said.