APRA AMCOS pays live performance royalties in Australia and New Zealand at one flat rate per song, whether you played a corner pub or a 500-capacity room. The money only reaches songs that someone reports.
APRA AMCOS means the Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, the songwriter and publisher society for both countries. It reports over 128,000 members.
Not many of them file. The Music Network (Geordie Gray, July 2019) reported that a record 17,499 members had been paid for gig reports the previous year. On 17 May 2024, with six weeks of the financial year left, APRA’s own count was 6,590 members and 130,296 setlists. Late claims add to that, but it is far from the record.
Where the live pool comes from
Venues buy a OneMusic Australia licence. For pubs, bars and casinos the live music rate is:
- 2.2% of what the venue pays its performers, when it pays them directly
- 1.65% of gross admissions, when a booking agent pays the act
APRA’s Distribution Practices, updated February 2026, send 100% of that general live tariff into the Performance Report pool, along with all fees from halls, cruise ships, community groups and eisteddfodau. Other licences contribute a slice:
- Councils: 51.25%
- Karaoke: 25%
- Schools and universities: 20%
- Churches: 10%
- Nightclubs: a variable amount to cover DJs’ reports
In 2024-25 the pool was 2.1% of everything APRA distributed, against 6.7% for promoted concerts, according to its transparency report. APRA paid rights holders A$452.5 million that year, so on our arithmetic the pool was roughly A$9.5 million.
How the per-song rate is set
APRA’s live music guide says the rate is fixed at the start of each financial year, separately for Australia and New Zealand, from expected licence revenue and the number of performances expected to be reported.
- Every song counts as a standard three minutes, or 12 credit points. Contemporary classical and jazz are credited at actual length (Distribution Rules, section 20.3).
- Payments land quarterly (February, May, August, November), roughly six months after filing.
Neither that guide nor APRA’s performance-report page publishes the current per-song figure. What matters is the division: an unreported gig is not held for you. It never enters the count.
Promoted shows are paid differently
Festivals and international tours skip the pool. The promoter files the setlists, and its licence fee goes straight to the works performed, usually paid monthly.
- When a bill has both, headliners share 80% and support acts 20%.
- Promoted events with a licence fee under A$300, or with setlists still missing after three years, fall back into the Performance Report pool.
What to do with your own gigs
- File every eligible gig, covers included. The standard window is 12 months, or three years with posters, ticket stubs or venue letters. New members can only claim the 12 months before they joined.
- Read your settlement sheet. Some venues deduct their APRA licence fee from the band’s fee. Submit the deduction with the setlist and APRA allocates a share of it to the act’s own songs, excluding covers.
- Stop logging busking. Performances from 1 July 2026 in streets, shopping centres, parks and transport hubs are no longer claimable.
- Claim live streams. Australian or New Zealand shows streamed on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok count, if the works are registered.
- Touring from abroad? APRA accepts reports from affiliate societies and publishers for overseas writers they represent. If yours does not file, your Melbourne pub dates never enter the count.
Where a distributor fits
Gig reports are one of the few royalty lines where the songwriter controls the data. That matters in a market where local artists are down to 9.5% of streams, and in New Zealand, where they take about 9%.
A distributor such as InterSpace Distribution delivers the recording and accounts for the master side. It cannot file a setlist, and APRA can only pay a song it can match to a registration. Register the composition, keep writer splits identical in your society record and release metadata, and treat the report as part of the gig. Croatia shows what happens to concert money when setlists never arrive.
