Commercial Radio & Audio and PPCA at loggerheads over payments to musicians radio stations airplay

The radio industry has warned of widespread job losses if a proposed increase to artists’ royalties goes ahead, while senior figures from the music industry claim the current payment system is an outdated hangover from yesteryear.

Singer Daryl Braithwaite. Picture: David Caird

The commercial radio industry has warned of widespread job losses if a proposed increase to artists’ royalties goes ahead, while senior figures from the music industry claim that the current payment system is an outdated hangover from yesteryear.

Radio and music executives, as well as artists, were among those to attend a Senate hearing on Thursday to discuss the Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Pay for Radio Play) to help determine if the cap on royalties paid to artists and labels – currently 1 per cent of the station’s gross annual revenue – should be changed.

Ciaran Davis, chair of Commercial Radio & Audio, which represents the nation’s 260 commercial radio stations, told the hearing that “cutbacks will have to be made” if royalties paid to musicians are increased.

ARN Media boss Ciaran Davis.

“In a world where we are faced with reducing revenues because of streaming services, because of the macro environment we are in, it’s not sustainable. There will be losses of jobs and there will be losses of content and that will impact the communities in Australia,” said Mr Davis, who is also the chief executive of ARN Media

“We have seen declining revenues, our costs are going up, I’ll speak for ARN here, we paid about 16 per cent of our EBITDA last year in royalty fees, that’s gone up from 11 per cent back in 2021/22.

“There’s no doubt that we cannot sustain increased royalty fees, which is why we also try and sustain our quotas on what we pay for music, for local news and content and the important role we play with communities.”

Mr Davis said if the one per cent cap was increased, radio stations would look to play less Australian music. At present, there is a legislated cap that requires radio stations to program a minimum of 25 per cent Australian music on any given day.

Australian Recording Industry Association chief executive Annabelle Herd said she wants to negotiate fees paid by the commercial radio industry to ensure they are “fair” and the 1 per cent cap should be removed.

“At the end of the day, we will have our view on what the royalties will be and CRA will have its view … we need to come together and jointly agree after a negotiation,” she said.

“We entered into a recent negotiation with radio, we didn’t get an agreement on an outcome, and we are currently before the tribunal.

“We are going to invest a lot of money to come to an outcome that will only ever be 1 per cent, and I just think that is not fair for the artists and the record labels that we represent.”

Musicians including Paul Dempsey, lead singer with indie band Something for Kate, said “every cent counts”.

“Removing the cap would hopefully result in a more equitable situation for musicians.”

“It’s feels grossly unfair,” he said.

Something for Kate frontman Paul Dempsey. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mark Seymour, lead singer with Hunters & Collectors, told the hearing: “I don’t really understand why the commercial radio industry is a protected species in this area”.

“The impost of this cap does seem bizarrely anachronistic from an outdated set of circumstances that don’t apply anymore,” he said.

“The argument that commercial radio is saying that they are exposed to a greater risk than anyone else I think is slightly disingenuous, they have got a pie they want to protect.”

Mr Seymour said he doesn’t factor in radio exposure in his income because it’s not reliable.

Singer Mark Seymour said the cap on royalties paid for playing music on radio stations is outdated. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.