You can deal directly with the music user. As a member, you have given us control of the performing and communication rights in your songs, but you can take back some of those rights if you wish.
APRA offers you two ways of doing this - we call them Opt Out and Licence Back.
Using Opt Out, you can decide to manage the rights in your full repertoire (i.e, all of your music) for particular music uses - for example, live performances or digital downloads. We will continue to manage your full repertoire for all other uses.
Licence Back allows you to license one or more of your songs directly to a particular user. We will continue to manage those rights for all other users.
If you deal directly with users, we will not enforce your rights or collect licence fees for those uses. This may affect your legal rights and income. You may want to get your own legal advice about this.
Here's how to apply for Opt out and Licence Back. If you need help with this, contact our membership team - details below.
If you want to deal directly with someone in Australia or New Zealand to use one or more of your songs, we will grant you a Licence Back. You will need to let us know who you’re licensing (by name or by description so we don’t try to license them as well). We will continue to license all other users on your behalf.
If you are going to license your live performance of your own music, performance in a cinema movie, or the communication (broadcast or online) of your songs, you need to give us written notice of this at least one week before the use.
For all other uses (live performances of your music by others or performances of recordings of your songs) we need two weeks’ written notice.
You also need to provide APRA AMCOS with a signed consent and indemnity from all interested parties (for example, co-writers or publishers).
If the Licence Back arrangement is complex, we may charge an administration fee (capped at $200).
Please download the [relevant] form, fill it out, and email it to [email protected] to submit your Licence Back Request.
You can choose to Opt Out of certain categories of use, for all your works. This will give you personal and complete control of all your works, worldwide, for that type of use. You will be able to grant licences to anyone for that use, on your terms, or you may choose not to license the works at all.
The categories of use that you can opt out of are:
If you Opt Out, we will not license any uses of your works in the relevant category, and you won’t receive any money from us for that use. We also will not be able to enforce your rights if someone infringes your copyright.
The minimum period to Opt Out is 12 months. If you want to opt out, you must give us:
If the Opt Out arrangement is complex, we may charge an administration fee (capped at $200).
Forms:
Please download the [relevant] form, fill it out, and email it to [email protected] to submit your Licence Back Request.
APRA AMCOS can grant members a free licence to offer their own music on their own website, for non-commercial purposes (the works are provided free). The application process is quick and easy:
The Opt Out and Licence Back information provided here relates to your performing and communication rights. We also offer Licence Back and Opt Out arrangements for your mechanical rights. Read about managing your AMCOS rights here or contact us.