Distribution information guide: Websites and general online music use

This information guide explains how the licence fees we collect from music users who have music on their website or use music in recorded podcasts are paid out as royalties.

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Where does the money come from?

APRA AMCOS collects licence fees for music used on websites and in podcasts.

For information on licence fees collected and distributed for music used on Facebook, YouTube and other streaming services platforms, view relevant information guides.

What information does APRA AMCOS use to determine who should be paid?

We rely on our licensees to provide us with information about the music they use. When this data is not received, our distribution process is to find an appropriate data source which matches the music use, e.g. licence fees collected for the channel 7 website will be pooled with the Network 7 broadcast distribution. If the client is unable to provide usage data, and no immediate source of data is available, then fees may be distributed by analogy across music use data received from other online and broadcast licensees.

How are songs matched to the data APRA AMCOS receives?

We rely on licensees to report their music use. We are then able to match songs reported by licensees directly with the vast repertoire of songs in our database.

How are the royalties calculated?

For each song used on a licensed website, in a podcast or in other ways online, we use the same method of allocating points as for background and other general use, that is we allocate 1 point per 15 seconds of duration up to 1 minute, a standard 12 points where the duration is between 1 and 6 minutes, and 4 points per minute where the duration is greater than 6 minutes.

Once the points have been calculated, the total licence fee collected from the licensee is divided by the total sum of all points, resulting in a $ rate per point. This rate is then multiplied by the number of points, resulting in the royalty amount payable for that song for a single performance. If the song has received multiple performances/streams, then the royalty payable for that song rate is multiplied by the number of performances.

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 a member of an affiliated overseas society, we pay the royalties to that society.

How often are royalties paid?

Distributions are calculated and paid quarterly.

What about songs that cannot be identified or are the subject of a dispute?

View our information guide on Unidentified Songs and Disputes for more information.

Key terms used in our Distribution Rules and Practices document

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.

Analogy:
Royalties are distributed via distribution pools (or by copying datasets) that are most similar in terms of a licensee’s music content. This method is used when Direct Allocation or Sample reporting is impractical.

This fact sheet is a guide only. Refer to our full Distribution Rules and Practices for more information.