APRA AMCOS announces record revenue of $857.4m

APRA AMCOS data shows that when it comes to consuming local content, more than 91% of the music Australians streamed in FY26 was imported. In New Zealand, it’s even worse - 96% was by international creators. User Generated Content (UGC) platforms show the same pattern at far greater scale. UGC consumption grew, but Australian members' share fell to 3.6% and New Zealand 1.7%, a drop of around 28% in actual streams since last FY. 

Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS, explains: “This has been another year of strong results for our members, with more money out the door to them than ever before. As we celebrate APRA’s centenary year, we’ve also reflected on how far we’ve come while remaining firmly focused on the challenges ahead. 
 
“Australian and New Zealand music continues to achieve extraordinary success around the world, but at home, the opportunities for our members to reach local audiences are shrinking. Music made here is winning over global audiences and generating record international revenue, yet it is becoming harder to discover on the platforms we use every day. 

“If the current trend continues, Australian members’ share of streaming is on track to fall to close to 5%* within the next five years. It’s a devastating statistic. If audiences cannot discover local music on the platforms they use every day, we break the chain that takes an artist from their first listener to community radio, the live stage and an international career. 

“Music creators are squeezed on the platforms where fans first find them, and then on the stages where that support grows. We raised it in last year’s report and have been advocating hard for a federal live music tax incentive and minimum Australian music requirements for every platform. Without decisive action, a whole generation of music fans will miss out on hearing their own sounds – whether online, broadcast and on live stages – which would be the ultimate tragedy.”

For APRA AMCOS’s membership of over 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, over 340 events, seminars and presentations were delivered across Australia, New Zealand and internationally, engaging over 10,000 attendees through education, networking, professional development and industry engagement opportunities. 

110 awards, grants and prizes went towards member career development, with programs such as National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office’s (NATSIMO) Lifecycle Grants, awarding a total of $550,000 to 35 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators in partnership with Music Australia. 

World-first department Alyelhentye Nawu has continued supporting and advocating for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members, including the protection of Indigenous Knowledges and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) in published music amid emerging challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Ormston adds: “We continue to work closely with governments, platforms and international partners to ensure members are asked permission and receive payment when their works are used to train or generate AI content. 

“In June, we took that message to the CISAC General Assembly in Paris, where we joined international partners in setting out the Paris Commitment to protect, recognise and fairly remunerate human creators. We then took the same case to Canberra, urging the Australian Government to hold firm on the Copyright Act. We will continue making that case, clearly and consistently, for as long as it takes. 

“As AI technology advances, so too does the need to defend the simple principle at the heart of copyright: creators must retain the right to control the use of their work and be paid when that work is used. Our position remains clear and simple: permission and payment.” 
 
* The Australia Institute's Reversing the Decline of Australian Music report, 2025. 
 

Dean Ormston's APRA AMCOS FY26 Year In Review message