Distribution information guide: Child care centres

This information guide explains how the licence fees we collect from childcare centres are paid out as royalties.

Where does the money come from?

APRA AMCOS collects licence fees from play groups and childcare centres in Australia and New Zealand for the performance of music including radios, streaming services, televisions and live performances on their premises.

What information does APRA AMCOS use to determine who should be paid?

Generally, APRA distributes background music licence fees by using analogous data sources such as commercial and community radio and television. The music used in early childhood education/childcare centres, however, is quite different from music played across commercial radio or TV. While it’s not feasible to obtain detailed music use directly from licensees, analysis indicates the music used is closer to that broadcast by two dedicated children’s radio services: ABC Kids Listen and Kinderling Kids Radio. Both services provide comprehensive music use reports to us under the terms of their broadcast licences and this more accurate analogous dataset is used to distribute 100% of royalties under this licence scheme.

How are songs matched to the data APRA AMCOS receives?

Where we make payments via analogy, the song matching process has already taken place within the different distribution pools that this revenue is allocated to.

How are the royalties calculated?

The OneMusic licence covers performing and mechanical rights, and distributions are made to both APRA and AMCOS members using the analogous data described above. Given the nature of the data used, royalties are calculated and paid using the same rules as apply to the commercial radio distribution pool.

How often are royalties paid?

Distributions for these businesses are paid quarterly.

What about songs that cannot be identified or are the subject of a dispute?

View our information guide on Unidentified Songs and Disputes for more information.

Key terms used in our Distribution Rules and Practices document

Songs:
The Copyright Act refers to compositions, musical scores in the form of sheet music, broadsheets or other notation as musical works. Lyrics or words to a song are considered literary works. When we refer to songs, we are referring to all the elements of a musical/literary work protected by copyright.

Analogous:
Royalties are distributed via distribution pools (or by copying datasets) that are most similar in terms of a licensee’s music content. This method is used when Direct Allocation or Sample reporting is impractical

This fact sheet is a guide only. Refer to our full Distribution Rules and Practices for more information.