APRA licenses Australian and New Zealand sports codes and sporting events, for recorded and live music use.
The relevant sports codes (e.g. T20, AFL, NRL) provide APRA with setlists detailing songs played at matches. For smaller sports codes or one-off events, we do not require the provision of setlists.
The setlists provided by the sports codes, and the songs submitted by New Zealand members in ‘Performance Reports’ are directly matched to the vast repertoire of songs in our database.
Where setlists are provided, the songs reported by each code share in that code’s licence fee, and where relevant, the licence fee for the specific event in which they are used. Songs are paid according to their duration, the number of times played, the situation in which they are used (i.e. for AFL and NRL, there are different weightings for weekly rounds, Finals and the Grand Finals), and whether the use was recorded or live (live music receives twice the payment weighting).
Once we have calculated the amount payable for a song, we can pay that amount to the copyright owner of the work. If the copyright owner is not an APRA member but a member of an affiliated overseas society, we pay the money to that society.
In New Zealand, 10% of the sports code and events revenue is allocated to the Live Performance pool (see separate guide). For smaller codes/events, the licence fees are allocated on an analogous basis to the live performance pool or digital streaming pool according to whether the predominant music use is from a live performance or recorded music source.
Distributions for Australian and New Zealand sporting codes and events are calculated and paid in the next quarter following the end of the relevant season or reporting period. The 10% allocation of New Zealand revenue that goes to the Live Performance pool is distributed according to the Performance Report practice (see the Live Music, Halls & Functions guide for details). Any analogous allocation to the digital streaming pool is paid quarterly.
View our information guide on Unidentified Songs and Disputes for more information.
Songs:
The Copyright Act refers to compositions, musical scores in the form of sheet music, broadsheets or other notation as musical works. Lyrics or words to a song are considered literary works. When we refer to songs, we are referring to all the elements of a musical/literary work protected by copyright.
This fact sheet is a guide only. Refer to our full Distribution Rules and Practices for more information.