Recent Distribution changes

Video on Demand

We’ve recently made changes to the way we pay Video on Demand (VOD) royalties. VOD includes services such as Netflix, Stan and the Apple and YouTube movie stores.

Members will see this change from February APRA payment (P2201) and March AMCOS payment (M2112) onwards.

What’s changed?

1. The split of the royalty distribution between APRA and AMCOS from Video on Demand services

Previously the licence fees collected from VOD services were split 90% to APRA and 10% to AMCOS for the purpose of paying out royalties.

The APRA and AMCOS Boards agreed to change the split of royalties to 50% to APRA and 50% to AMCOS. This change was introduced to reflect APRA AMCOS’ understanding of the way in which VOD services are now licensed to use music around the world.

The new royalty split between APRA and AMCOS applies to licence fees for music use on subscription VOD services (such as Netflix, Disney+, Apple, Stan, Amazon Prime and Neon) and transactional VOD services (such as iTunes, Telstra Media and pay-per-view content offered by Apple TV, Disney and Amazon) for usage from 1 July 2021.

2. The method we use to distribute AMCOS royalties

AMCOS VOD royalties used to be paid using proxy data. Now AMCOS VOD royalties use the same data as APRA – that is, cue sheets relating to the programs streamed or downloaded on the service.

For the major VOD services including those listed above, the licence fees paid by the service are distributed against the music used in the programs streamed by that service. View our Video on Demand distribution information guide for a detailed explanation of how licence fees are paid out as royalties.