Aus music streaming and radio quotas front and centre at Senate Inquiry

Back in February, APRA AMCOS contributed to a Senate inquiry into the economic and cultural value of Australian content on broadcast, radio and streaming services. The inquiry included a fight to increase Australian music quota across platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

Today, APRA AMCOS appeared at the Senate with its CEO Dean Ormston stating that this enquiry comes at a "critical" time for the Australian music industry.

"It comes at a time when Australian music is more popular than ever before, both domestically and internationally," he said. "It comes at a time when jurisdictions around the world are reviewing the copyright and regulatory frameworks that support the creation of local content. And it comes at a time when the economic models that support industries like music are shifting dramatically."

APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston

In regards to radio quotas:

Ormston has stated that the Australian content quota of 25% is “not only achievable but internationally reasonable.”

"However, compliance with radio quotas needs to be considered very carefully to ensure the code remains relevant. APRA AMCOS' key concern is that under the existing code, radio broadcasters are able to self-categorise which... Australian music applies to their service."

In regards to streaming services:

It was suggested that all streaming services be subjected to the full 25% music quota.

"In the streaming space, we need to take a more creative approach as it is not a linear medium like radio, Music streaming services have local curation teams in Australia and have already demonstrated some very good support for Australian artists. We're in conversations with music streaming services around the concept of benchmarking locally-curated playlists to ensure there is always an opportunity for Australian music to be heard and discovered by local audiences and mitigate the risk of foreign artists unfairly dominating local charts.

"In fact, promoting playlists featuring increased levels of Australian music to Australian consumers in an on-demand environment may even prove to make good business sense. Our stats show that local works are streamed at least twice as much as foreign works."

This is an exciting time for the Australian music industry.