Musos Stand To Make A Few More Cents Thanks To New Streaming Royalties Ruling

A long-standing legal stoush between the Phonographic Performance Company Of Australia (PPCA) and Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has reached a conclusion after the Australian Copyright Tribunal handed down its final orders last week.

Although the actual hearing took place earlier this year, with its judgment handed down in late April, the finalisation of orders from the Copyright Tribunal brings to a close a seven-year fight by PPCA to have CRA pay licence fees for songs aired as part of a simultaneous online stream (simulcast). In a statement, the company acknowledged the "very positive outcome" of its case against CRA, which passed through "a Federal Court Case, a Full Federal Court Case, a High Court review, numerous Government inquiries, a regional radio station boycott, lobbying campaigns to four separate Communications Ministers, and a Copyright Tribunal case".

The protracted nature of the disagreement was aided in part by the parties' early inability to reach an agreement over the actual definition of the word 'broadcast' — and whether online streams are covered therein — as well as the actual payment scheme that should be adopted to ensure rights-holders are adequately compensated for use of their work; the PPCA was calling for a per-stream basis, a la Spotify and Pandora, while CRA advocated a percentage-of-revenue-based rate.

As the Copyright Council notes, in handing down its decision on 26 April, the Copyright Tribunal "decided that neither of the payment schemes proposed by the CRA or the PPCA could be considered reasonable in the circumstances", instead settling somewhere in-between with a "scheme which permitted radio stations to decide whether to pay on a percentage of revenue basis or a per stream basis".

According to The Music Network, Those stations choosing to pursue the flat per-stream rate are looking at coughing up $0.0059 a pop, while the percentage-of-revenue set will have its fees calculated based on the station's use of music. Regardless of which plan licensees ultimately choose, the PPCA just seems happy to have secured some degree of progress for rights-holders in Australia.

"The decision will ensure that our Licensor record labels and artists will now be brought into line with every other content industry in Australia, from sporting codes to publishers, who already monetise their online rights," the PPCA's statement read.

"We now look forward to working with Commercial Radio Australia to smoothly implement the licence scheme," it continued.