International
Distributions
Practices
First edition published April 2011.
Last updated: 11 April 2011
Contents
Background/Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
CISAC and Contractual Obligations ......................................................................................................... 3
Works ownership .................................................................................................................................... 3
Distributions ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Distribution data formats ....................................................................................................................... 4
Timetable for Payments .......................................................................................................................... 4
Deductions .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Remittances and currency conversion.................................................................................................... 5
Tax arrangements ................................................................................................................................... 5
Processing distributions .......................................................................................................................... 5
Allocation of Shares ................................................................................................................................ 6
Digital Use ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Adjustments ............................................................................................................................................ 6
Payments to Members............................................................................................................................ 7
Unidentified works.................................................................................................................................. 7
Monitoring the use of APRA repertoire overseas ................................................................................... 7
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
Background/Introduction
The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) has reciprocal representation agreements
with over 70 performing right collecting societies around the world, covering over 200 territories.
Under these agreements, societies are obliged to license, collect and distribute for performances
and broadcasts of APRA works in their territories. Payments totalling approximately AUD $20 million
a year are received for APRA members’ musical works performed and broadcast overseas.
Approximately 150 individual overseas distributions are processed each year. The reciprocal
agreements are supplemented by standard rules and formats for documentation and distribution
contained in the CISAC Professional Rules and Binding Resolutions.
CISAC and Contractual Obligations
In formulating APRA Distribution Rules, the Board is bound by Article 93 to observe and comply with
the terms of agreements between APRA and:
(a) its members; and
(b) its affiliated societies.
The Board endeavours as far as possible to comply with resolutions of the International
Confederation of Societies of Authors & Composers (CISAC) related to principles governing the fair
and equitable distribution of royalties. As a member of CISAC, APRA is bound by the Professional
Rules, relating to its conduct, governance, transparency, financial disclosure, administration,
licensing and collections as well as the Binding Resolutions covering documentation and distribution.
Royalties collected and distributed to APRA by affiliated societies are subject to the laws, conditions
and practices applicable in the country of collection, as well as the contract with APRA and the CISAC
Professional Rules and Binding Resolutions.
Works ownership
Societies obtain work usage information from music users (licensees) and match this to works that
are registered on their databases, either by sub-publishers, by APRA or through one of the
international documentation tools, such as the Works Information Database (WID) or CISNet].
Musical works in film and television are contained in cue sheets and societies
obtain
these
cue
sheets
from
publishers,
from
APRA,
from
the
producer/distributor/
broadcaster or by request to the relevant society through the Audio-visual Index (AVI) in
CISNet. In most cases, societies will research foreign works and works ownership when the works
are “active” in the territory, that is, that the society has received usage information on the work,
such as in radio or TV logs, or from a notification from APRA of a performance or release in their
territory. In following up claims for members, APRA will notify the work and ownership
information (the ISWCs of the work, the IPIs of the owners) and the relevant percentages for the
territory for performing and mechanical rights (where appropriate).
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
Distributions
For overseas performing rights income, major affiliated societies are required to account to APRA
within 30 days of payment to their own members and at the latest within 90 days. Rights to
payment are determined by the distribution rules and policies of the society in question, subject
again to the Binding Resolutions of CISAC.
Distribution data formats
CISAC has also developed agreed international standards and metadata (identifiers) for the
international exchange of society membership, musical work, cue sheet and agreement information,
as well as distribution statement data, unidentified works and performances and society financial
information.
Societies are obliged to use CISAC standard data formats for the electronic exchange of detailed
distribution information:
•
the F2 format for film and TV payments
•
the E4 format for other performing rights payments, and
•
the M2 for mechanical rights payments.
Societies are now rolling out a new more detailed format, known as the Common Royalty
Distribution (CRD) format which will be used for all types of payments.
Timetable for Payments
The distribution timetable of foreign incoming revenue is available on the APRA AMCOS website.
Note that this timetable does change from time to time and there are sometimes delays
encountered by the remitting society in processing or delivering the distribution.
With the exception of a few smaller societies, distributions are provided to APRA electronically, and
works are matched automatically with APRA’s database of titles. Distributions usually contain:
•
•
a payment;
statements and reconciliation; and electronic data eg works, sharers, payment details (in
nearly all cases)
Before APRA’s International department can load and process these payments, we must make sure
all three elements are reconciled. We sometimes need to chase up a society if payment is delayed,
or statements are incomplete or if the data is corrupt. This may also cause delays in distribution. In
reconciling the overseas payment, we also monitor the levels of withholding taxes deducted from
overseas remittances and keep up to date with changes to these rates under Double Taxation
Agreements entered into by our government. We show the amount in AUD/NZD of the withholding
taxes deducted at source on member statements and remittance advices for tax purposes.
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
Deductions
Before societies process and remit distributions to APRA they deduct their administration costs and
in some cases limited amounts for cultural purposes. These are permitted under our reciprocal
agreements and CISAC resolutions. APRA also deducts administration costs and cultural deductions
from royalties we send overseas. The costs and cultural deductions from overseas are not shown in
overseas distribution statements nor on our member statements for overseas royalties.
APRA deducts 1.5% of net royalties received from affiliated societies in respect of the costs
associated with analysis and processing of such royalty payments.
Remittances and currency conversion
Societies make payments to APRA in one of the major currencies in which we maintain bank
accounts. (I.e. AUD, GBP, Euros and USD) When affiliated societies remit money, we receive
notification of the payment. This is converted to Australian dollars as soon as possible – usually the
next working day. We also strike the exchange rate between AUD and NZD for each incoming
distribution when the money is received. This means that even if there is some delay in processing
the distribution data to distribute to members, any intervening changes to the value of the dollar
will not impact the value of payments – the currency conversion is done at the value when the
money was originally received and converted to AUD or NZD.
Tax arrangements
Overseas societies are obliged to deduct withholding tax on royalties they remit overseas according
to their local law. The rate is usually determined by the relevant Double Taxation Treaty in force
between our countries. APRA’s International Department monitors any changes to these rates to
ensure the withholding tax deducted is correct. In the case of the UK, the rate varies according to
the type of rights owner being paid, eg a composer, company or successor-in-title. In other cases,
such as Spain, the rate will differ according to the country of economic residence of the payee. In all
cases the amounts of withholding tax deducted from each overseas payment is shown in AUD or
NZD on member statements.
Processing distributions
Once APRA has established that the data is correct and reconciles to the statements and distribution
summaries, the data is loaded into APRA’s Copyright Management System (CMS). This process
combines the E4 and F2 files and extracts the data fields relating to the revenue source, titles,
interested parties (composers, authors and publishers), percentages and the amounts. These are
then run against our CMS database of works and those that have the correct title, sharers and
percentages (taking into account any foreign sub-publisher share) will auto-match for payment. In
many cases the data will be incomplete or not match our existing CMS registration for the work. As
mentioned above, societies can obtain cue sheets from a variety of sources and may have their own
practices in naming background cues. CISAC is devleoping a set of standard rules for societies to
apply in storing cue sheet data, which should assist in matching these titles in future.
For works that do not auto-match, the International Department will review each payment over AUD
$5 to see if it can be matched to an existing APRA CMS registration. This may be because there is a
spelling mistake, a missing party, incorrect percentages or that the work is not an APRA work or not
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
registered on CMS. In most cases these can be corrected and the manual matching is recorded in an
experience file which means the payments for the same work from that society will auto-match next
time APRA receives foreign royalties for that work.
Allocation of Shares
Where there is a missing share according to our CMS documentation, we distribute the royalties to
the registered owners and claim this missing share from the society in question. If they have paid
the incorrect rights owner who is not an APRA member, we return these fees in error to the
remitting society.
Where a work is not registered, we will suspend the payment and advise the relevant member in
their statement that we are holding monies from overseas and these will be released once it is
registered (or returned to the society if it is not correct). Payments may also be put in suspense if
the works are in dispute or if we have not yet received the relevant cue sheet.
If an affiliated society has paid an APRA member and the percentage is less than the amount
showing in our registration, we will check with the member to ensure there is no publishing
agreement in the relevant territory and make the claim for the missing share if necessary. Note that
under CISAC rules, we cannot make adjustments or claims for under USD$20 per work or USD$50 in
aggregated payments per rights owner.
Digital Use
We are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of works that are being paid as a result of the
rapdly expanding spectrum of digital and services, new cable satellite, digital TV and narrowcast
services. Correspondingly, the individual payments for such uses have dropped significantly.
This has lead us to re-engineer matching processes for overseas distributions, introducing
experience files and applying looser matching algorithms to payments under AUD$5.
Adjustments
In some cases the payments from overseas are an adjustment from a previous incorrect payment
from a society, often following a query from APRA. These need to be matched against the
original payment from the society to ensure the accuracy of the debit or credit.
If APRA is notified of an incorrect payment by an affiliated society within three years of the date of
the distribution, APRA will correct the erroneous payment by means of adjustment, debit or credit,
provided that the amount to be adjusted is USD$20 or more.
Debits over USD$500 per work must be agreed upon between the two societies prior to the
debit. However, if any objection raised cannot be resolved within six months of the date of the first
written notification, the debit will proceed unless a counterclaims and disputes procedure has been
invoked for the work in question, which indicates dispute over the division of fees or rightful
ownership.
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
Payments to Members
Overseas royalties are distributed to all members (writers and publishers) in APRA’s quarterly
distributions, each year.
The International Department also processes and pays four additional “mini distributions” of foreign
royalties to APRA writers each year. Foreign earnings are distributed monthly when the distributable
amount exceeds AUD$1.00 for writers paid by Electronic Funds Transfer into local bank accounts and
AUD$50.00 for overseas resident writers who are paid by Telegraphic Transfer into foreign bank
accounts or by draft (overseas cheque).
Unidentified works
Societies are required under CISAC rules to circulate electronic lists of works that cannot be
identified in their domestic distributions. APRA’s International Department obtains these lists and
coordinates their research and claiming of works in APRA repertoire for payment. Note also that
Societies interrogate CISNet and the WID to identify works.
Monitoring the use of APRA repertoire overseas
The International Department broadly monitors the use of APRA repertoire in our major markets
and ensures documentation, claims and queries are made to the relevant societies to chase up
payments. In our major markets, we monitor TV and cable, airplay and sales charts, digital
download charts and use a variety of websites and other resources to track festivals, cinema, jingles
etc. We maintain a few databases of this information as well as one on overseas activity of our
members in general, such as tours, TV and cinema sales and TV appearances. We also research and
store foreign language titles of APRA works and film and TV programs that are used overseas, where
known.
It is really important that if you know of any use of your repertoire overseas to let us know so we
can ensure the correct documentation exists and that we can claim. Forms and guidelines are
available on the APRA AMCOS website:
• Overseas Live Performances
• Overseas Jingles
• Overseas Broadcasts.
We are also able to supply information on monitored performances to interested members on
request.
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International Distributions Practices: updated 2011
Further Information
Additional information is available on the APRA AMCOS website: www.apraamcos.com.au
You can also contact the APRA AMCOS Membership Department at:
• [email protected]
• 1800 642 634 (freecall)
Or contact our state offices:
NSW/ACT
16 Mountain St Ultimo NSW 2007
Locked Bag 5000 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Tel 02 9935 7900
Fax 02 9935 7999
[email protected]
VIC/TAS
3 & 5 Sanders Place Richmond VIC 3121
Tel 03 9426 5200
Fax 03 9426 5211
[email protected]
QLD
3 Winn Street Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
PO Box 1230 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
Tel 07 3257 1007
Fax 07 3257 1113
[email protected]
8
NT
Tel 1800 642 634
[email protected]
SA
Suite 54/55 Melbourne Street North Adelaide SA 5006
Tel 08 8239 2222
Fax 08 8239 0744
[email protected]
WA
Suite 1, 12-20 Railway Road Subiaco WA 6008
Tel 08 9382 8299
Fax 08 9382 8224
[email protected]
NEW ZEALAND
Unit 113, Zone 23, 21 - 23 Edwin St, Mt Eden, Auckland
PO Box 6315, Wellesley St, Auckland, NZ
Ph: 09 623 2173
Fax: 09 623 2174
Freephone: 0800 692 772
[email protected]
International Distributions Practices: updated 2011