In responding the APRA’s latest re-authorisation application to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the ADA and the Australian Libraries and Archives Copyright Coalition (ALACC) reiterate our long-standing concerns with the governance of collecting societies and the inabilty of APRA members to share their music under Creative Commons (CC) licences.
We also acknowledge APRA’s efforts to improve its licensing process, how it collects data on the use of its repertoire by licensees (particularly through the use of music recognition technolocy (MRT) and the frequency of royalty payments to members. However, we expressed concern that it is difficult to clearly see how improved music usage data translates into more equitable distribution of royalties among members. In the submission, we also questioned APRA’s request for an unconditional authorisation.