The lengthy document released by the Copyright Tribunal of Australia with its decisions on changes to the Copyright Amendment Act 2006, the Radio Licence Fees Act 1964 and other copyright amendments yields no real winners for all parties involved in the stoush. Not the PPCA or APRA AMCOS, despite a 38% increase in royalties paid when commercial radio plays music. Not Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA), despite no change to the 1% statutory cap of industry advertising revenue that limits the amount of royalties payable for those sound recordings played. Not for burgeoning Australian musicians who are likely to see little of the extra royalty payments, and not for those working in the broadcast industry whose annual radio awards night, the ACRAs, was a casualty of the costs of the CRA being part of this legal dispute.
The judgement reflected on the value of radio to new music, saying:
“It is uncontroversial that the role of radio has transformed significantly since the days of WEA Records. The experts agreed that the role of commercial radio in the discovery and promotion of new music had declined since the decision in WEA Records. This is primarily the result of the emergence of streaming and other digitally driven changes in the music marketplace. Whilst it was not in dispute that commercial radio continues to play some role in the promotion of sound recordings, the parties disagreed as to the extent of the decline in the promotional value of radio.”
There was also some surprising thoughts, from CRA CEO Lizzie Young, on the value of DAB+ stations in the future:
“CRA contended that the future for DAB+ was limited. Ms Young observed that her instructions from CRA’s Board (comprising representatives from the CRA Members) were that DAB+ is “not strategically important for the industry”. Ms Young further observed that “they don’t focus their attention on it”, and that given its limit to certain locations, it was “cost prohibitive” for the industry to continue to develop it. Even in metropolitan areas, DAB+ fails in tunnels. Given difficulties in establishing infrastructure, and getting coverage in tunnels, efforts are instead moving to streaming. As to the future of DAB+ going forward, Ms Young’s evidence was that “DAB[+] remains on foot with the spectrum that we have used as we use it today, but certainly not for growth in our future”. According to Ms Young, CRA will not be investing in further DAB+ technology, being the infrastructure or promotion of DAB+.”
Towards the next steps from here Justice Helen Rofe said:
“In light of my conclusion that the appropriate licence rate is 0.55%, the parties should now confer with a view to preparing a revised proposed scheme, including non-price terms, that gives effect to this rate. The formulation of that scheme should take account of the observations made in these reasons, including those concerning transparency and the operation of the existing agreement. The revised scheme should then be submitted to the Tribunal for consideration.”
As Sonny and Cher sang, the beat goes on.
You can read the entire ruling document here.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]
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