Watch: Getting paid APRA AMCOS royalties is quick and easy
APRA AMCOS refers to royalty payment as ‘distribution’
Members earn royalties from licence fees from businesses and organisations that use music
APRA AMCOS pays domestic royalties quarterly
Your songwriting royalties come from businesses and organisations that pay for the right to use music. Almost all businesses and organisations use music. Think of your favourite café, hairdresser, nightclubs, festivals, radio stations, television ads, streaming services, and YouTube videos. APRA AMCOS offers licences to these businesses and organisations to use your music. We also track what music they use. We then pay songwriters, composers and music publishers their share of the licence fees we collect, after deducting our administration costs.
Live performance is one of the most important revenue streams for our members. Per play of each individual song, the rate the songwriter earns is higher.
So if you are performing your original music live, be sure to submit your Performance Reports (setlists) in the APRA AMCOS app or Writer Portal – so you can get paid for your hard work!
You can submit Performance Reports up to 12 months after playing a show. However, if you have evidence of the gig, and have been an ongoing member, you can submit Performance Reports up to 36 months (3 years) post-event.
Once you become a member, make sure you tell us your Australian Business Number (ABN). If you don’t have an ABN, get one! It’s free to apply. We can only accept Individual/Sole Trader ABNs.
If you don’t have an ABN and you earn more than $500 in APRA royalties or $75 in AMCOS royalties, we have to deduct withholding tax from your royalties at the highest marginal rate for personal income tax.
Apply for an ABN through the Australian Business Register.
APRA pays domestic (Australia, New Zealand and Pacific) royalties quarterly in: February, May, August, and November.
There is an approximate six-month turnaround from when the activity happened like a radio play to the payment.
If you submit Performance Reports – you can check on the app and the Portal when you will be paid for that performance. To view your payments and to see how your songs are earning money, go to the Writer Portal’s Earning Insights.
AMCOS also pays quarterly, in March, June, September, and December.
Statements and remittance advice for your AMCOS earnings are sent straight to you via email. You’ll be able to access them in the Portal and App shortly – from June 2024.
Check out this ‘Distribution Explained’ page for more.
Please note - Not all categories of music royalties get paid every quarter. Learn more about domestic royalties.
APRA AMCOS distributes royalties that we collect from our International Affiliates each month. However, we're dependent on their distribution methods to pay you.
For every dollar we collect, around 85 cents is distributed to music creators as royalties.
It's mission-critical that any licence fees we collect are distributed to our songwriter, composer and publisher members and affiliated overseas societies efficiently and accurately.
At 13.8%, our expense to revenue ratio compares very favourably to affiliated organisations providing the same service overseas.
Learn more here: Distribution rules and practices.
We've got them answered.
When do I get paid royalties?
APRA pays domestic royalties every three months and processes overseas royalties monthly.
AMCOS processes royalties quarterly—within 60 days of the end of each calendar quarter, usually just before the 60th day. All amounts over $10 are paid.
What does APRA AMCOS do?
APRA AMCOS grants licences for the live performance, broadcast, communication, public playing or reproduction of its members’ musical works. APRA AMCOS then distributes the licence fees to its 119,000+ songwriter, composer and music publisher members and affiliated societies worldwide.
APRA AMCOS is the trading name of Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS).
Who can join APRA?
If you write or compose your own songs, you may be eligible to join APRA. You'll also need to match one or more of the following criteria:
You can't join if you're a member of an overseas Performing Rights Organisation. If you're in a band, only the members who write or compose music need to join.
Who can join AMCOS?
Joining AMCOS is separate from joining APRA. You may want to join AMCOS if you have unpublished works released on a recording for sale to the public or reproduced in a production music recording. You can join AMCOS if:
What are Performance Reports?
If you play live at pubs, clubs, cafes, or other live music venues in Australia and New Zealand, you can get royalties for these performances by submitting a Performance Report.
Just tell us what songs you've performed in which venues, and you could be paid for playing your original music live. Please make sure you also tell us about any covers you perform so the original songwriters can get paid too.
You can submit your Performance Reports on-the-go via the APRA AMCOS for Music Creators App or in the Writer Portal. Download the app for free from the Apple App store, or from GooglePlay for Android.
Can I earn royalties from airplay on online radio and digital radio stations?
Yes. The majority of Australian and New Zealand online and digital radio stations are simulcasts of their analogue versions, and this additional use is licensed under their standard APRA AMCOS agreements.
Can I earn royalties from digital downloads and streamed music?
Yes. Remember to register your works.
Digital royalties are paid out in our quarterly distributions. Writer members do not need to do any reporting, just register your works! However, adding ISRCs to your work registrations does assist us greatly.
We have licence agreements in place with most legal digital service providers (eg: Spotify, Apple Music). Traditionally, we would expect royalties to be paid out 6 months after streaming or download in Australia or New Zealand - depending on the reporting and processing lead times. Overseas royalties do take longer, as they must first be processed by our international affiliate societies. This can take 12-24 months, depending on the territory.
Can I earn royalties from plays or downloads of my music from triple j Unearthed website?
Musical works broadcast on triple j Unearthed do earn performing and communication right royalties from APRA AMCOS. We're currently working with the ABC to get data for streams and downloads from their websites.
Uploading your songs to a website can be a great way of getting your music heard, but before uploading your work, you should read and understand all of the terms and conditions. In the case of triple j, you should be aware that the upload agreement states that there will not be any royalties received from promotional downloads.
Can I earn royalties if my music is played by a webcaster?
Yes, but keep in mind that the licence fees we collect from webcast services are a fraction of what we collect from commercial radio stations. Given the vast number of hours of music programming and the significantly lower licence fees we collect, the royalty distributions for streams by webcasters are incredibly small.
Can I earn royalties if my music is used on YouTube?
Yes. Our licence agreement with YouTube covers the streaming of all music videos including music embedded in User Generated Content (UGC).
You may find that your works have been being synchronised as part of other users’ uploaded content to YouTube. It is important to understand that the synchronisation rights of a work are owned by the original copyright owner/music publisher. Therefore, a work cannot be used without gaining permission from the copyright holder (that means you or your publisher!).
If you discover that your musical work has been used without your consent, there are two options available:
Please note, if you want to upload cover versions of songs to a User Generated Content site (UGC) where a visual element is present (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc), you may need to clear the synchronisation rights with the music publishers/original copyright owners.