How songwriters get paid in Australia

Three pots of money, not one

Here's the bit nobody tells you when you put your first single out. A released song earns from more than one place, and each place pays a different person for a different thing. If you only set up one of them, money sits unclaimed.

Every recorded song has two copyrights. One is the song itself: the music and the lyrics. The other is the sound recording, often called the master, which is the actual audio file you made ^[5]. Copyright in your song is free and automatic from the moment you write it down or record it ^[3]. You don't pay anyone for it.

So the three pots look like this. APRA AMCOS collects for the song, and pays songwriters. PPCA collects for the recording when it's played in public or broadcast, and pays whoever owns the master plus registered featured artists ^[9]. Your distributor collects streaming and download income for the recording, and pays the master owner ^[12]. If you write, record and own your own stuff, all three are yours to claim.

APRA AMCOS: what it is and who can join

APRA AMCOS is two organisations working as one. APRA looks after your performance and communication rights: royalties when your songs are played live, broadcast on radio or TV, or streamed or downloaded on a commercial digital service ^[1]. AMCOS looks after some reproduction rights, also called mechanical royalties: money when your song is copied, like on CDs, vinyl, downloads and streaming ^[2].

Joining is free ^[1]. AMCOS membership is free too, and stays active for life ^[2]. There is no annual fee listed on the official pages we checked.

To join APRA you need to write or compose your own songs, and at least one of them has to be performed live, broadcast on radio or TV, or available to stream online ^[1]. You can't join if you already belong to an overseas performing rights organisation ^[1]. In a band, only the members who actually write need to join ^[1].

AMCOS has its own test: you own the copyright in musical works, you're not in an overseas mechanical rights society, and at least one unpublished work has been commercially reproduced (on a CD, vinyl, a digital service or sheet music) ^[2]. If you've signed with a publisher, they usually collect mechanicals for you and you don't need AMCOS separately ^[2]. Most independent artists with music on streaming services will tick the AMCOS box.

1. Go to the Join as a writer page on the APRA AMCOS site ^[1].
2. Have ready: your personal details, an email address, a bank account for payments and some details about your music ^[1].
3. Under 18? You'll need parent or guardian consent ^[1].
4. Tick both APRA and AMCOS if you're unpublished and your music is on a streaming service. You can also add AMCOS later ^[2].
5. Once approved, download the APRA AMCOS for Music Creators app and log in to the Writer Portal ^[3].

Register every song, before it's out

Joining is step one. Registering your works (your songs) is what actually gets you paid. APRA AMCOS says you must register your songs to receive royalties when they're played or performed ^[3], and recommends registering before a song is played, performed or released ^[15].

You do it in the Writer Portal or the app: Works tab, Register a New Work, Regular Work, then fill in the details ^[3]. You'll need the title, performer name, duration and ideally the ISRC, which is the unique code for the recording that your distributor gives you ^[3]. You can add the ISRC later if you don't have it yet ^[3]. Adding it helps APRA AMCOS match streams to your song ^[7].

Co-writers go in the Contributors section with their split and role (composer, author). Splits must total 100% ^[3]. If all writers are members, only one of you needs to register it ^[3]. If a co-writer isn't a member, they need to join, or register through their own society if they're overseas ^[3].

Check the portal for 'Unregistered' or 'In Dispute' flags and deal with them quickly ^[3]. Changing splits after registration needs written approval from the co-writers ^[3], so get them right the first time.

Gigs: Performance Reports (LPRs)

Every time you play your songs live at a pub, club, cafe or live music venue in Australia or New Zealand, you can claim royalties by submitting a Performance Report, often called an LPR (live performance return) ^[4]. Covers count and should be included in the setlist too ^[4].

Who submits? You do, unless it's a promoted event, where it's the promoter's job to collect and submit the setlist ^[4]. You file it in the app or Writer Portal ^[4].

There's no annual deadline, but the standard claim window is one year from the show, stretching to three years if you have supporting evidence ^[4]. New members can only claim gigs from the 12 months before they applied ^[4]. That's a good reason to join before you start gigging, not after.

Not everything counts. Private functions (weddings, private parties), worship services, radio or TV broadcasts and dramatic works can't be claimed, and busking is excluded from 1 July 2026 ^[4]. Live streams of an Australian or New Zealand show on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok can be claimed if the songs are registered ^[4].

The money comes from a pool of venue licence fees shared across all submissions, and for non-promoted gigs a song pays the same at a corner pub as in a 500 capacity room ^[4]. We can't tell you what a set is worth, because APRA AMCOS doesn't publish a fixed rate. What we can tell you: if you don't submit, you get nothing.

• Submit the night of the gig or the next morning, while you remember the setlist.
• Include every song you played, originals and covers.
• Keep a photo of the poster or the venue's post as evidence.
• Make sure each original on the list is registered as a work.

Playing overseas

APRA AMCOS collects from overseas through reciprocal deals with sister societies in other countries ^[7]. Payment isn't guaranteed, because each society has its own rules ^[6].

Overseas gigs are submitted the same way, using the Overseas option, with extra details like the promoter and whether it was part of a tour or festival ^[6]. Most can be claimed up to 2.5 years after the show, but some territories are much tighter: in the USA, BMI wants claims within 6 months and ASCAP only takes the last year; the UK (PRS) wants them within 10 months ^[6]. Russia is currently unclaimable ^[6].

Keep evidence: ticket stubs, social posts, a letter from the venue ^[6]. Overseas money can take up to two years to arrive after the show ^[6].

When the money lands

APRA pays domestic royalties (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific) quarterly in February, May, August and November ^[5]. AMCOS pays quarterly in March, June, September and December, and pays all amounts over $10 ^[5]. Not every royalty type is paid every quarter ^[5].

Expect roughly a six month gap between something happening (a radio play, a stream) and the payment ^[5]. Performance Reports take about six months from entry to payout ^[4]. Overseas streaming royalties can take 12 to 24 months ^[5], and overseas money is paid out in monthly mini distributions as it comes in ^[6].

Worked example: you play a gig in Brisbane in March and submit the setlist that night. Allow about six months, so it's likely to show up in the August or November APRA payment ^[4][5]. Nothing yet in May? That's normal.

The ABN trap

You don't need an ABN to get paid ^[8]. But if you're an Australian tax resident without one, APRA AMCOS must withhold tax at the top personal rate (the FAQ says 47%) once you earn more than $500 in APRA royalties or $75 in AMCOS royalties ^[8]. You can claim it back in your tax return ^[8], but that's months of waiting.

Worked example: an APRA payment of $600 with no ABN on file. At 47% withholding, $282 is held back and you receive $318 until tax time ^[8]. With an ABN on file, you get the full $600 and sort out your tax yourself.

ABNs are free through the Australian Business Register, and writer members need an Individual/Sole Trader ABN ^[8]. Add it in the Writer Portal under My Account, Business details, or in the app under Account, My details ^[8].

PPCA: money for whoever owns the master

PPCA licenses the recording and music video, not the song ^[9]. It collects when recordings are played publicly or broadcast, for example by radio stations, TV and businesses like cafes and bars, and not for live performances ^[9][11].

For Australian recordings, registered Australian featured artists can access 50% of the income allocated to each track, and the label gets the rest ^[9]. If you don't register, your share goes to the label ^[9]. Featured artist means the named act, not a session musician or DJ ^[10].

If you own your masters (or only have a distribution deal), you're the label in PPCA's eyes, so register as a Licensor and sign PPCA's input agreement ^[10][11]. You can also register as an artist ^[11]. No registration fee is listed on the pages we checked ^[10][11].

Timing matters here. PPCA pays once a year, in December, after crunching the financial year ^[9]. To be in this year's artist round you must be registered by 31 August, and no money is held back for anyone who misses it ^[9][10].

1. Own your masters? Fill in PPCA's Licensor registration form and return the input agreement ^[11].
2. Featured artist on an Australian recording? Complete the Artist Registration Form and a Recording Details Form per track ^[10].
3. Under 18? Contact PPCA before you submit anything ^[10].
4. Put 31 August in your calendar every year ^[10].

Streaming income via your distributor is different

This is where most first timers get confused. When someone streams your track on Spotify, two separate payments are created. Recording royalties go to whoever delivered the music (your distributor or label), who pays the master owner ^[12]. Publishing royalties for the song go to publishers and collecting societies, which in Australia means APRA AMCOS, who pay the songwriters ^[12].

Spotify doesn't pay artists or songwriters directly, it pays rights holders who then pay you under your agreement with them ^[14]. And it doesn't pay a fixed rate per stream ^[12]. Since April 2024 a track needs at least 1,000 streams globally in the previous 12 months (plus an undisclosed number of unique listeners) to earn recording royalties ^[13].

AMCOS says its streaming royalties are a separate income stream from anything your distributor pays you ^[2]. So your distributor dashboard is not the whole picture. If you write your songs and aren't registered with APRA AMCOS, the songwriter side of every stream is going unclaimed by you.

• Distributor: pays the recording side of streams and downloads to the master owner.
• APRA AMCOS: pays the song side of streams, radio, TV, gigs and venues to songwriters.
• PPCA: pays the recording side of radio, TV and public play to the master owner and registered featured artists.

Common mistakes

• Thinking your distributor covers everything. It doesn't pay songwriter royalties ^[12][2].
• Joining APRA but never registering works ^[3].
• Joining after a year of gigs, then finding only 12 months can be claimed ^[4].
• Forgetting covers on your setlist ^[4].
• No ABN on file and losing 47% to withholding until tax time ^[8].
• Missing PPCA's 31 August cut off ^[10].
• Leaving splits vague, then needing every co-writer's written sign off to fix them ^[3].

How we can help

We've done the hard bit. Use our free Split sheet maker before you register, so the numbers you enter in the portal match what everyone agreed. If you've been releasing for a while and never claimed, our Royalty catch-up service walks through what's still in the claim window. And Your money lays out every income stream in one place. 100% yours, 0% ours.

Questions people ask

Sources

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Last checked 2026-10-26.

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