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The Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has recommended that the Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Pay for Radio Play) Bill 2023 not be passed by the Senate.
The bill seeks to amend the Copyright Act 1968 to remove the 1% cap of commercial radio revenue that stations must pay the Australasian Performing Right Association and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) to play music.
The PPCA recently took industry body Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) to the Copyright Tribunal to determine what they say their members should be paid.
CRA chair Ciaran Davis said that the Committee's recommendation that the bill not be passed is good news for the 260 radio stations across Australia that CRA represents as the Bill would have had "dire consequences" for the radio industry.
“CRA expects that the cap debate can now be put to rest, to allow radio to sustain itself as a critical part of Australia’s media landscape and cultural identity," he said.
“If there is to be further analysis, the focus needs to be on where the money is going, as we remain concerned that multinational record giants are profiting at the expense of Australian artists and industries.”
Former CRA CEO Ford Ennals previously made statements saying PPCA wants the cap removed so it can increase fees by up to 900%.
“There is no way of knowing how much of the existing fee we pay to PPCA is being distributed to the artists – we believe it could be as little as 10%, while the rest is being pocketed by PPCA’s members who are multinational record companies with combined revenues more than 40 times the size of the entire Australian radio industry,” he said.
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