Why join APRA AMCOS?

We help songwriters, composers, and publishers get paid for their music, plus so much more.

Why join as a Writer

Get paid for the use of music you write

The Copyright Act (1968) gives music copyright owners—songwriters, composers, and publishers—several exclusive rights, including the right to:

Perform the work in public
Communicate their music to the public (e.g., broadcasting or streaming)
Reproduce their work in a material form

APRA can manage your performance and communication rights on your behalf, while AMCOS can manage certain reproduction rights on your behalf. APRA and AMCOS pay you royalties for uses of your music in these ways around the world.

If you're in a band, only the members who write or compose music need to join. Writer membership is on an individual basis and not open to companies, organisations or groups.

Joining AMCOS is separate from joining APRA. If your works are published, your publisher will usually collect mechanical reproduction royalties on your behalf, and you don't need to join AMCOS directly.

Career opportunities

When you become a member, you’ll be joining our music community of 128,000+ songwriters and composers collectively.

You'll have opportunities to connect and learn from your music industry peers at APRA and AMCOS-run networking and industry events. Our staff are available to give you advice on your royalties. Take your career to the next step by entering our competitions or taking advantage of professional development opportunities.

There's always something exciting coming up. Make sure to keep an eye on our calendar for details.

Member benefits

APRA and AMCOS members can access exclusive offers and discounts on everything from studio time to insurance, through our member benefits program.

Member resources

During your membership, you'll be required to provide us with certain information so we can pay you. We've put together all the resources you need, with step-by-step guides and forms to make the process as smooth as possible so you can get back to doing what you love.

Join as a writer

Why join as a music publisher or music rights administrator (non-publisher)

We can administer various rights in your catalogue

APRA licenses music users to perform music in public and communicate music to the public. AMCOS licenses music users to reproduce music in any physical or digital format.

As a music publisher or music rights administrator (non-publisher), keeping track of, and negotiating payment for these uses of your music can be challenging and costly. APRA and AMCOS assist by collecting licence fees from music users and distributing royalties to music rightsholders, including music publishers and music rights administrators (non-publisher).

We do collectively what would otherwise be difficult for you to do individually.

To maximise your revenue from performing and reproduction licences, we recommend that music publishers and music rights administrators (non-publisher) join both APRA and AMCOS.

Monitoring international use of your catalogue

You may have sub-publishing agreements with music publishers or music rights administrators (non-publisher) in other territories, who collect your royalties in those territories through the relevant societies. APRA and AMCOS can collect royalties from territories where you don't have sub-publishing agreements.

Flexible memberships

When you join APRA or AMCOS, we exclusively administer the performing and reproduction rights for the writers and works you represent. We understand that there are situations where individual rightsholders and music users may want to deal directly with each other for certain music uses. In these cases, APRA and AMCOS offer flexible options for directly licensing your music:

licence-back music for specific purposes
license music to a specific licensee
opt-out of certain business lines

We advocate on your behalf

There's strength in numbers. We keep across any legislation or policies that might impact the value of music and back our members' rights up to the highest levels of government.

Want to apply?

Click here for more information on joining as a music publisher or music rights administrator (non-publisher).