Royalties for songwriters and performers explained.

This article is for informational purposes and general commentary only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client relationship.

Musicians are often surprised to learn that a single recorded song is protected by two different copyrights, owned by different people, and paid through two different systems. There is the song itself, the melody and the lyrics, which the law treats as a musical work. And there is the particular recording of that song, which is protected as a separate thing in its own right. Keep those two apart in your head and the rest of this note follows easily.

The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) treats them separately. The written song, the music and the words, is protected as a work. The recording of it is a sound recording, which is a different category of copyright with its own owner. So when a track plays on the radio, on a streaming service or in a cafe, two sets of rights are being used at the same time, and two groups of people are owed money. The songwriters and their publishers are paid for the song. The recording artist and the record label are paid for the recording.

Who is APRA AMCOS, and what does it collect?

APRA AMCOS collects royalties for the song, that is for the musical work and its lyrics. It is really two organisations working together. APRA, the Australasian Performing Right Association, looks after the performing right. AMCOS, the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, looks after the mechanical right. Songwriters, composers and music publishers are the members.

The performing right that APRA administers is the right to perform a song in public or to communicate it to the public. That covers a live performance, a radio or television broadcast, a stream, and music played in a shop, a gym or a venue. When any of those happen, APRA collects a licence fee from the user and pays it to the writers and publishers of the songs that were used.

The mechanical right that AMCOS administers is the right to reproduce a song, that is to copy it onto a record, a CD, a download or a file on a streaming platform. Each time a song is copied in one of these ways, a mechanical royalty is owed to the writers and publishers, and AMCOS collects it. If you write songs and they are reproduced or made available, this is money owed to you.

Who is PPCA, and how is it different?

PPCA, the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia, is the separate body that collects for the recording, not the song. It licenses the public playing, broadcast and communication of sound recordings and music videos. When a cafe, a radio station or a gym plays recorded music, it is using the recording as well as the song, so PPCA licenses that use of the recording and distributes the fees it collects.

PPCA pays two groups. The first is the record labels and licence holders that own the copyright in the recording. The second is registered Australian recording artists who performed on the recordings. That second stream matters. It means a featured or session performer can receive money directly from PPCA for the use of recordings they played on, separately from anything their label pays them. You have to register with PPCA as an artist to receive it.

For a business that wants to play music in public, dealing with two collecting bodies once meant two licences. OneMusic Australia now offers a single public performance licence that covers both the APRA AMCOS rights and the PPCA rights together. Our note on OneMusic and public performance licences explains what a venue or event needs to hold.

How does a songwriter actually get paid?

Say you wrote a song. Here is where the money can come from. If it is performed live, streamed, broadcast or played in public, APRA collects a performing royalty for you. If it is reproduced, pressed onto a CD, sold as a download, or streamed, because a stream involves a copy as well as a communication, AMCOS collects a mechanical royalty. If it is used in an advertisement, a film or a television program, that is a synchronisation use, and a sync fee is negotiated, often through AMCOS or your publisher. Each of these is a different licence and a different payment.

To collect any of it, you register your works with APRA AMCOS and lodge details of who wrote each song and in what shares. Royalties are then distributed on the strength of data collected from broadcasters, venues, streaming services and other users. If you never join and never register your works, there is no clear path for your share of these royalties to reach you, and it can sit uncollected.

How does a recording artist get paid?

A recording artist earns from the recording, in more than one way. The label, or you if you own your masters, earns from sales and streams of the recording and pays the artist a royalty under the recording contract. Streaming services pay the owner of the recording, who then accounts to the artist according to the deal. Separately, PPCA pays registered artists directly for the public performance and broadcast of the recordings they performed on. So a performer can be paid both through the recording contract and, on top of that, through PPCA.

This is why the recording contract matters so much. It sets the artist’s royalty rate, when it is paid, and what is deducted before the artist sees anything. If you own your own recordings, you keep the owner’s share as well. Our note on band agreements covers how a group splits recording income, songwriting income and the band name between its members, because these streams are often divided on different terms.

What about playing live?

Two situations, kept apart. If you perform your own songs live, the venue’s public performance licence covers the use, and APRA distributes performing royalties for the songs performed based on set lists and other data. If you perform someone else’s songs, a cover in a set for example, the songwriter of that song is still owed, and the venue’s licence is what covers that use. Using existing recordings or songs inside a theatre or dance show is a separate clearance exercise, and our note on sync, grand rights and clearances deals with it.

How do you register and start collecting?

The practical steps are short. Join APRA AMCOS as a writer or a publisher, and register each of your works with the co-writer shares agreed in writing. If you perform on recordings, register with PPCA as an artist. If you release recordings you own, register as a licensor with PPCA and make sure your distributor reports your streams and sales correctly. Keep your set lists, release data and metadata accurate, because royalties are paid on the strength of that data and errors in it lose you money.

Songwriting shares should be agreed and written down before a song is released, not after it starts to earn. A dispute about who wrote what, and in what percentage, is far harder to sort out once real royalties are flowing. If you write with other people, put the split in writing at the session while everyone still agrees on it.

Common problems, and when to get advice

A few issues come up again and again. Royalties go missing because works or recordings were never registered, or were registered with the wrong shares. A recording contract takes a larger cut than the artist realised, or recoups costs the artist did not expect. A co-writing split was never agreed and is now in dispute. A publishing or assignment agreement signed years ago still controls the income today. Each of these is fixable, and each is easier to deal with early than late. Our note on copyright basics for performing artists sets out the rights that sit underneath all of this.

If your music is earning, or should be, and you are not sure the money is reaching you, or you have been asked to sign a publishing, recording or distribution deal, get advice before you sign and before you assume the systems are working on their own. Small errors in registration and in contracts add up to real money over the life of a song.

Frequently asked.

What is the difference between APRA and AMCOS?

They are two collecting organisations that work together and both pay songwriters, composers and music publishers. APRA administers the performing right, which is the right to perform a song in public or communicate it to the public, so it collects for live performance, broadcast, streaming and music played in venues. AMCOS administers the mechanical right, which is the right to reproduce a song onto a record, CD, download or streaming file. Both collect for the song, not the recording.

What does PPCA collect, and how is it different from APRA AMCOS?

PPCA collects for the recording, not the song. It licenses the public playing, broadcast and communication of sound recordings and music videos, and it distributes those fees to the record labels or owners of the recordings and to registered Australian recording artists who performed on them. APRA AMCOS, by contrast, collects for the underlying musical work and its lyrics. A single played track uses both rights at once.

How do I get paid when my song is streamed?

A stream involves both a communication and a copy of the song, so on the songwriting side APRA AMCOS collects performing and mechanical royalties for the writers and publishers. On the recording side, the streaming service pays the owner of the recording, usually the label or distributor, which then pays the recording artist under the recording contract. To receive the songwriting royalties you must have joined APRA AMCOS and registered the work with the correct writer shares.

Do recording artists get paid separately from their record label?

Yes, in two ways. The label pays the artist a royalty from sales and streams under the recording contract. On top of that, PPCA pays registered Australian recording artists directly for the public performance and broadcast of the recordings they performed on. You have to register with PPCA as an artist to receive that direct payment, and it is separate from whatever the label accounts to you.

How do I register to collect music royalties in Australia?

If you write songs, join APRA AMCOS as a writer or publisher and register each work with the co-writer shares agreed in writing. If you perform on recordings, register with PPCA as an artist. If you own recordings you release, register as a licensor with PPCA and make sure your distributor reports your sales and streams correctly. Royalties are paid on the data these bodies hold, so accurate registration and metadata matter.

Do I need to agree songwriting splits in writing?

It is strongly in your interest to. Songwriting shares decide how APRA AMCOS royalties are divided between co-writers, and a dispute about who wrote what is far harder to resolve once money is flowing. Agree the percentages and write them down at the session, before the song is released, so the registration is right from the start and there is nothing to argue about later.

If you are a performer, producer, venue, or independent practitioner and this raises a question about your own situation, Aaron Kernaghan and the team at Brady & Associates Lawyers can give you tailored guidance. Call 0421 717 019 or contact the firm.

This article is for informational purposes and general commentary only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client relationship. It reflects the law in Australia as at 29 September 2026, with a focus on Commonwealth law and New South Wales and ACT practice. The law changes and applies differently to every set of facts. Written by Aaron Kernaghan, Brady & Associates Lawyers.

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