Copyright Agency Annual Report 2024

Download the Annual Report as PDF here.

Introduction

Some key results

In 2023–24 Copyright Agency:

• enabled copying and sharing of content by millions of Australians without the individual copyright clearances otherwise required, including:
• more than 300,000 teaching staff in more than 9,600 schools for more than 4 million students[1]
• 130,000 university staff for 1.4 million university students[2]
• 650,000 students in 24 TAFEs in 2,300 locations[3]
• teachers in more than 1,000 other education institutions, such as registered training providers
• more than 960,000 government employees[4]
• staff in more than 1,000 licensed businesses
• allocated $102 million to nearly 22,000 recipients, indirectly benefitting many others involved in the creative industries such as in-house writers and illustrators, and writers and illustrators with contractual entitlements to a share of Copyright Agency payments that we do not pay directly[5]
• collected $1.6 million in artists’ resale royalties
• licensed nearly 1,000 businesses with annual licences, including 79 new clients
• continued work on new data collection methodologies for the school sector, using modern technologies to reduce the administrative burden on teachers, with the assistance of the Copyright Tribunal
• licensed, under individual agreements, more than 1,000 other education institutions (such as registered training organisations), including 77 newly licensed institutions
• welcomed 1,437 new members
• represented our members in government inquiries and reform proposals, including on artificial intelligence (AI)
• approved $1.6 million for 82 projects from the Cultural Fund (members’ contribution of 1.5% of licence revenue)
• increased Reading Australia subscribers to nearly 26,000, and added 19 new teaching resources for schools

Additional information about Copyright Agency

Apart from the information in this annual report, there is additional information about Copyright Agency:

• from the links from our Governance and Policy webpage,[6] which include:
• Constitution
• government appointments and guidelines: Declaration as collecting society for education statutory licence; Declaration as collecting society for government statutory licence; Guidelines for declared Collecting Societies
• Annual Reports and Annual Reviews
• Annual General Meetings: notices and minutes
• Code of Conduct for Australian collecting societies
• International codes of conduct: IFRRO Code of Conduct; CISAC Professional Rules
• Policies and procedures: Distribution Policy; Complaints procedure; Dispute resolution procedure; Whistleblowing Disclosure Form
• Data processing protocols agreed with licensees
• from the information sheets about distributions

We have also included references to further relevant information on the topics covered in each section of the report.

Copyright Agency at a glance

More information

• About Us webpage[12] including links to:
• What we do
• Staff, board and international affiliates
• Governance and policies

About copyright

The objective of copyright law is ‘to give to the author of a creative work his just reward for the benefit he has bestowed on the community and also to encourage the making of further creative works’.[13]

Copyright rights are granted by the Copyright Act.[14] Copyright applies to designated ‘forms of expression’ such as writing, music and images. The ‘owner’ of a copyright has exclusive rights to do certain things such as copying, making available online, broadcasting, and public performance. No registration is required for copyright: rights are granted ‘automatically’ on creation of a designated form of expression.

Copyright is a form of ‘intellectual property’: it is ‘owned’ and can be licensed and transferred to others.[15]  The Copyright Act determines the first owner of copyright (usually the creator). Creators also have ‘moral rights’ in their work (relating to attribution and the ‘integrity’ of their work), even if they do not own copyright.[16]

The artists’ resale royalty right (artists’ entitlement to a share of the resale price for artworks) is often regarded as a copyright-related right, though it differs from copyright rights in a number of respects, and in Australia is granted by stand-alone legislation.[17]

Rights usually last for 70 years after the creator’s death.[18]

The Copyright Act contains a range of ‘public interest exceptions’ that allow certain activities without the copyright permissions otherwise required. Some of these can be done without payment (e.g. fair dealing by a student for research) and others (known as statutory licence schemes) require fair compensation.[19]

The copyright system is international, involving national legislation that conforms with standards in international treaties.[20]

About statutory licence schemes

Statutory licence schemes have been introduced for situations in which it was assumed ‘that, if left to themselves, the parties will be unable to reach a satisfactory resolution of the terms for the access desired’ for reasons that include ‘unacceptably high transaction costs in cases where individual uses would be too difficult to identify and control’ and ‘the user is in a powerful initial position and has been able to obtain a statutory solution in its favour’.[21]

Statutory licences are compulsory for content creators but not for licensees. Users can choose to make alternative arrangements with copyright owners for uses covered by statutory licences, rather than relying on the statutory licence provisions.[22] Content creators have adjusted to the statutory licence schemes, which were introduced a long time ago and enable efficient licensing solutions.

Copyright Agency is appointed (‘declared’) by the Australian Government to manage statutory licences for the use of text, images, and print music by the educational and government sectors.[23]

A statutory licence for education was introduced in 1980 following the recommendations of an expert committee,[24] extensively amended in 2000 to enable digital uses of content (such as making content available on an intranet and emailing),[25] and simplified in 2017 following a joint proposal from Copyright Agency, Screenrights, and education sector representatives.  In 1990, the Attorney-General’s Department produced guidelines for ‘declared’ collecting societies, which are reflected in Copyright Agency’s Constitution.[26]

A statutory licence for governments was introduced in 1968 as part of the current Copyright Act, following the recommendation of an expert committee,[27] and was amended in 1998 to facilitate collective management.[28]

Statutory licences are consistent with Australia’s international treaty obligations (because they provide compensation), and exist in other countries, but Australia has more extensive statutory licence provisions than other countries.[29]

The Copyright Tribunal has power to determine a range of matters associated with statutory licensing, including the compensation payable, data collection, and distribution of compensation to content creators.

More information

• Australian Copyright Council information sheets and copyright guides[30]
• About Copyright section of Copyright Agency website

Fees collected and distributed: an overview

Revenue by category

These figures are for revenue recognised for each financial year, rather than received in that period.

Revenue and distributions at a glance

Some licence fees received in one financial year are distributed in the following financial year. For more on allocations in 2023–24, and funds received in 2023–24 for allocation in 2023–24, see Parts 10 and 12. For Expenses, see Part 13.

Revenue and distributions 2018–24

Our members

Membership of Copyright Agency is free.  Anyone with a copyright interest in a text work or image can apply for membership.[36]

There are four classes of membership: ‘author’, ‘visual artist’, ‘publisher’ and ‘collecting society’.[37]

People can choose to be a member solely for entitlement to any statutory licence compensation allocated for use of their works, or they can choose to also authorise Copyright Agency to license reproduction and communication of their works (e.g. by businesses). This authorisation is non-exclusive; they can also license these uses themselves.

For a number of reasons, we only make payments to members, but our systems enable payments to new members for past usage. Some members who receive payments share them with others. For example, many authors receive Copyright Agency payments indirectly from their publisher rather directly from Copyright Agency.

Developments in 2023–24

• briefings and other communications with members on key developments, particularly relating to AI
• survey of members on AI-related issues: compensation for use of Australians’ works for AI training offshore, and licensing of copyright material for ethical development in Australia

Members at 30 June 2024

As at 30 June 2024, we had 40,931 members, which included 1,437 new members admitted to membership in 2023–24.

Of the new members, 354 (primarily authors) were contacted by us to receive payments that we were holding for them, totalling nearly $800,000.

There were 97 ceased memberships, for various reasons (e.g. a company that had ceased trading).

The following shows membership over time

Members by primary role

Member enquiries

The Member Services team answered more than 13,000 enquiries in 2023–24, 80% from members.

Many members are finding the information they need through the online Help Centre, which saw over 37,500 views in 2023–24. Additionally, 96% of customers who provided feedback on their inquiries were satisfied with the responses they received.

Copyright management organisations in other countries

We have about 70 members that are copyright management organisations (CMOs) in other countries. Our agreements with them enable us to include foreign content in the non-statutory licences we offer, and to receive payments for the use of Australian content in other countries.

We are a member of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO),[38] the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC),[39] and the Press Database and Licensing Network (PDLN)[40].

More information

• Member webpage[41] including links to:
• How to apply
• Licence participation
• Payments to members
• International affiliations:
• International affiliates[42]
• IFRRO[43]
• CISAC[44]
• PDLN[45]

Education sector licensing

The statutory licence scheme for education in the Copyright Act allows copying and sharing of text and images for education, by educational institutions, provided there is fair compensation to content creators.[46] Copyright Agency was appointed by the Attorney General in 1990 to manage the scheme.

There is a similar scheme for broadcast content (e.g. documentaries, films and current affairs), managed by Screenrights.[47]

The schemes apply to both not-for-profit and for-profit educational institutions. The amount of fair compensation can be determined by the Copyright Tribunal if it cannot be agreed.

Most schools (all government schools, and most Catholic and independent schools) are represented by the Copyright Advisory Group (CAG Schools)[48] in negotiations for fair compensation and data collection arrangements. All Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges (apart from those in Victoria)[49] are represented by CAG TAFE. Australian universities are represented by Universities Australia.[50]

Copyright Agency also negotiates individual agreements with other educational institutions, such as registered training organisations. Some of these agreements cover activities in other countries, based on authorisation from our members rather than the statutory licence. We also offer a joint licence, with One Music, to the early childhood sector, which is based on authorisation from our members rather than the statutory licence.

For total revenue from the education sector, see 4.1 Revenue by category.

Developments in 2023–24

• new rate card for individually licensed education institutions[51]
• continued work on new data collection methodologies for the school sector, using modern technologies to reduce the administrative burden on teachers, with the assistance of the Copyright Tribunal[52]
• continued working group with Universities Australia on data collection[53]

Licence fees for school sector

In 2023, Copyright Agency and the Copyright Advisory Group for the school sector (CAG) agreed on copyright fees payable for 2023–25, with an option to extend to 2026. The copyright fees are based on a fixed, flat rate of $13 per student per year. The agreement means that teachers can continue to copy, adapt, and share text and images from anywhere in the world for their students, including for remote learning. The fees for 2023–25 will not be affected by any usage data that may be collected during the that period.

Total cost of education for school students

According to the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, in 2021–22 the recurrent government funding was $22,500 per student in government schools and $19,000 in non-government schools.[54]

Compensation to content creators under the statutory licence is less than 0.07% of this funding.

Data collection from school sector

In March 2020, surveys in the school sector were paused due to COVID-19. The pause has continued as we work with the school sector on new data collection arrangements using modern technologies, with the assistance of the Copyright Tribunal.[55]

Each year from 2021 we have collected some high-level information on material copied and shared by teachers, from online questionnaires completed by teachers, to assist with distribution of licence fees from the school sector. For the 2024 distribution of licence fees from the school sector, we combined information from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 questionnaires with information from past surveys, recently published textbooks, and titles held in school library collections.

Australia’s education statutory licence compared

Australia’s education statutory licence is broader than licensing arrangements in other territories such as the UK and New Zealand. For example, key points of difference between Australia and the UK are:

Educational publishing in Australia

Another key difference between Australia and the UK is that Australian markets are much smaller: often state-based due to variations in state and territory curricula. In addition to the textbooks and other materials published by the Australian offices of large publishing companies, there are many medium, small, and micro businesses publishing Australian educational resources.

One of the factors for determining the licence fees payable by the education sector under the education statutory licence is the ongoing production of education resources in Australia.[68] This reflects the clear benefit to all Australians of adequate investment in the sustainability of quality Australian educational resources.

What teachers copy under the educational statutory licence

The education statutory licence allows teachers to copy, adapt and share content that they would otherwise need permission for. They do not need permission for content that has been published for free use in schools, such as material published by governments or with a Creative Commons licence, or for copying and sharing in accordance with the terms of use for content that they have purchased, such as an online subscription.

In 2019, about 70% of copying and sharing in schools under the education statutory licence was from books. Most were textbooks, and many were workbooks (activity books), particularly in primary schools. There is a list of commonly copied titles on our website.[69]

Teachers also copied and shared from newspapers and magazines (about 2% of copying), from online sources (about 17%), and from other sources (about 12%). The material that teachers copied and shared from online and other sources included worksheets, activity sheets, student resources, fact sheets, practice tests, lesson plans, and images.

Universities

In February 2023, we reached agreement with the university sector on the copyright fees payable for 2023 to 2026 and the balance of fees for 2019 to 2022.

Under the agreement, equitable remuneration payable by the 39 universities (jointly) is as follows:

• 2019–22: $31 million per year
• 2023–24: $28.5 million per year
• 2025–26: $27.5 million per year

The agreement also establishes a working party to develop mechanisms for data collection on the copying and sharing of content in the university sector. In the meantime, the university sector is continuing to provide data on electronic use from eight universities a year (different universities each year).

Individually licensed institutions

As at 30 June 2024, we had 1,048 individual agreements in place with educational institutions (some comprising multiple colleges), of which 77 were newly licensed institutions (46 commercial institutions, and 31 non-commercial institutions).

About 53% of the individually licensed institutions are not-for-profit, and the remainder for-profit.

The for-profit institutions are mostly large private colleges and registered training organisations (RTOs) offering tertiary education. The not-for-profit institutions include training arms of government bodies, community colleges, Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, and providers of specialist education such as theological studies, business studies and English language training.

While we enter into agreements with these institutions individually, we liaise with peak bodies for various classes of institution with a view to:

• increasing understanding of copyright and licensing issues;
• providing licensing information to their members; and
• designing licences that are appropriate to the needs of their members.

FLEX for individually licensed tertiary education institutions

We have an online product called FLEX, which makes the preparation of course reading material simpler and faster for librarians and educators in individually licensed tertiary institutions. FLEX allows visibility of reading list content at a course level, which (among other things) assists us with distribution of licence fees, and enables easy digital assignment of content to students.

As at 30 June 2024, we had deployed FLEX with approximately 50 licensees (some comprising multiple colleges).

Early Childhood Licence

We offer a joint licence, with One Music, to cater for the needs of early childhood education and care providers.[70] In 2023–24, there were 676 licensees.

Engagement with education sector

Our licensing staff engage with the education sector in a variety of ways, including participation in education conferences and other events, webinars, and individual training sessions. In 2023–24, engagement included:

• VET National Teaching & Learning Conference (VDC), August 2023
• VELG National VET Conference – in person, November 2023
• Australian Copyright Council – Webinar series for educational institutions, every quarter
• ALIA Conference – in person, May 2024
• ITECA Conference – in person, June 2024

More information

• webpages on Copying Under the Education Licence[71]
• top 50 books teachers copied in 2018–19[72]
• FLEX webpage[73]

Government sector licensing

The statutory licence for governments allows Commonwealth, State and Territory government departments and agencies to make any use of any copyright content for the services of the government.[74] Copyright Agency has been ‘declared’ by the Copyright Tribunal as the collecting society authorised to collect and distribute ‘equitable remuneration’ for government copying of text images, and print music.[75] Copyright Agency also licenses, as agent for its members, the communication of text, images, and print music.[76]

There are arrangements with State and Territory governments for payment of royalties from sales of survey plans that are separate to the arrangements for other activities done by governments under the statutory licence.

The statutory licence does not apply to government-related entities that are not ‘the Crown’, or to local governments, but Copyright Agency offers other licences for them (based on authorisation from members).

Licence fees paid by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments are based on a per-employee (full-time equivalent) rate of $7.30 per year.

Developments in 2023–24

In 2023–24, Copyright Agency had the following agreements in place:

• ACT (to June 2025)
• Commonwealth (to June 2026)
• New South Wales (to June 2026)
• Northern Territory (to June 2024) (finalising new agreement for July 2024 – June 2027)
• Queensland (to June 2025)
• South Australia (to June 2025)
• Tasmania (to June 2024) (finalising extension up until June 2025)
• Victoria (to June 2024) (finalising new agreement from July 2024)
• Western Australia (to June 2025)

Number of government employees

The table below indicates the number of employees (full-time equivalent: FTE), according to the most recent reports we have received.

More information

• what is covered by our agreements with the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments for copyright sharing by their staff[78]
• which departments and agencies are covered by those agreements[79]
• sales of survey plans by governments[80]

Commercial licensing

Members, including copyright management organisations in other countries, can appoint us as their agent to include their works in various licence schemes we offer. Licensees include corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

We offer ‘blanket’ annual licences, which cover uses of all works we represent. We also offer ‘pay-per-use’ (transactional) licences, including through an online automated facility.[81] The annual licences do not cover works that are listed on Copyright Agency’s website as excluded works,[82] but do include an indemnity for uses of other works not represented by us. Licence fees reflect the value of the licences (e.g. compared to other commercial licensing arrangements).

For total revenue from commercial and other voluntary licences, see 4.1 Licence fees by sector.

Developments in 2023–24

• annual licences for the business sector:
• 79 new clients resulting in about $380,000 of new business in licence fees from the corporate sector
• 911 existing clients valued at $7.3m of retained licences
• continuation of monitoring program for corporate websites with infringing newspaper content, with a view to increased uptake of licences in the corporate sector
• licensing of artworks totalling $3.1 million

Licences for the corporate sector

In addition to our general licence for corporations, we have licences covering the specific requirements of:

• pharmaceutical companies;
• public relations (PR) companies;
• law firms; and
• Australian-based firms with offices in other countries.

Other licence schemes include:

• media monitoring (as agent for newspaper and magazine publishers); and
• inclusion of journal articles and other works in commercial subscription services.

Not-for-profit sector

We offer licences for a range of not-for-profit entities, including incorporated associations, unincorporated associations, societies, and unions. We have specific sector licences for:

• local governments;
• religious organisations; and
• civil celebrants

Transactional (pay per use) licences for text

We offer transactional (pay-per-use) licences for text in two ways:

• an automated online service (RightsPortal) for newspaper articles;[83] and
• a manual clearance service.

For content not yet covered by the online facility, we offer a manual clearance service. Licensees make a request via the RightsPortal, and we respond within 48 hours. We liaise with the rightsholder, who decides whether or not to license and sets a price, and manage the licence arrangements, invoicing and payment. Most of the users of these services are publishers.

Artwork licences

We license the use of artworks to a variety of clients in Australia and New Zealand, representing more than 60,000 visual artist members from across the world.

Our pay-per-use licences cover the reproduction and communication of images for many uses including books, catalogues, and websites, through to individually tailored agreements for projects such as architecture, merchandise, and fashion.  We also have agreements with licensees such as public galleries, auction houses and media companies that cover the use of a large number of artworks for a fixed annual fee.

Licences in 2023–24 included:

• Qantaslink’s new A220 fuselage design featuring Maringka Baker’s artwork Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa
• Kip & Co x Ernabella Arts homewares and fashion range
• Exhibition licensing including Emily Kam Kngwarray at National Gallery of Australia and Louise Bourgeois at the Art Gallery of NSW

Engagement with licensees

The Commercial Licensing team engages with current and potential licensees in a variety of ways. In 2023–24 the team conducted 76 training sessions with a range of organisations around Australia. The team also encouraged licensees to use the online Knowledge Hub which has educational resources about copyright and the licence for staff onboarding and training.

The team also participated in the following conferences Industry events:

• LG Pro VIC – July 2023 (online)
• Association of Corporate Counsel Australia – November 2023 (Canberra)
• Local Government Professionals, West Australia – November 2023 (Perth)
• Association of Regulatory and Clinical Scientists – Conference June 2024 (Sydney)

More information

• webpage on commercial licensing[84] with links to:
• guides on annual licences for different sorts of businesses
• guides to pay-per-use licences
• information for clients of media monitoring licences
• visual arts licensing webpage[85] including links to:
• Visual Arts Licensing Portal
• Image Bank of a curated selection of images of our Australian and New Zealand members’ works[86]
• price guide
• examples of products with images we have licensed, such as clothing, homewares and books

Artists’ resale royalty scheme

The artists’ resale royalty scheme commenced on 9 June 2010. Copyright Agency was appointed by the Minister for the Arts to manage the scheme in May 2010.

The scheme requires payment of 5% of the sale price for certain resales of artworks by Australian artists.[87] It also requires the reporting of all resales with a sales value of $1,000 or more, with sufficient information to determine if a royalty is payable. A royalty is not payable if the seller acquired the work before the scheme commenced.

There is a dedicated website – resaleroyalty.org.au – which has an online reporting facility, and online registration for artists and art market professionals to provide contact details.

Developments in 2023–24

• since 2010, the scheme has generated more than $15 million in royalties from more than 33,000 resales, benefitting nearly 2,800
• in 2023–24, the scheme generated more than $1.6 million in royalties
• of the $1.3 million paid in 2023–24, 41% was to First Nations artists (many living in remote areas of Australia), who made up 65% of royalty recipients
• in 2023–4, 188 artists received a royalty for the first time

Summary of resales

The following shows the percentage of resales reported to Copyright Agency that met the eligibility criteria for payment of a royalty, by payment range.[90]

Establishing reciprocity arrangements

Reciprocal arrangements commenced with 17 countries on 31 March 2024:  Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. To facilitate this, we:

• met with many visual arts Collective Management Organisations to finalise the procedures for reporting resales and payment of royalties to each other
• sent tailored communications to Australian rightsholders and art market professionals on what reciprocity will mean to them
• communicated one-on-one with key art market professionals to ensure a smooth introduction and support them in their conversations with vendors

We also provided information on how our scheme functions and our implementation process to the governments of New Zealand and Canada (where schemes are in train) and our counterparts in those countries.

Stakeholder engagement

Our approach is to maintain sufficient industry participation and exposure for the scheme to ensure compliance and provide clarity to the art market. Key activities that occurred in the reporting period were:

• information shared at key industry events including Desart Art Centre Conference, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary, Spring Fair Melbourne, AACHWA Business Forum, National Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and Melbourne Art Fair. These forums are utilised to reach artists, art centre managers, arts workers and art market professionals.
• information was also shared in bespoke settings such as speaking to collectors at Clayton Utz Art Partnership event and to artists at the Artists Business Member Lounge, National Art School professional development sessions, Ration Shed Museum at Cherbourg Aboriginal Community and the Blak Camp Munimba-ja, Sunshine Coast. We also presented information on Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property including copyright and resale royalty to the Media Working Group and Anangu Traditional Owners at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
• ABC News presented a TV piece (3 minute and 5-minute editions), plus an on-line news article on Resale Royalty and international reciprocity. Artists, art market professionals and Copyright Agency were interviewed. Reaction we received was positive. The journalist was also interviewed by Daniel Browning on the Art Show. The Business’ program, on ABC News 24 Channel, aired the longer (5 min) version of the story[91]
• articles published in our e-newsletter CANVAS and on our website:
• Resale Royalty International Reciprocity is here
• Announcement Reciprocity had commenced
• Resale Royalty International reciprocity is imminent
• Estates, Beneficiaries and the acquisition date
• Resale Royalty Refresher on key points and how to get information or assistance
• tailored EDMs to rightsholders (artists and beneficiaries) and art market professionals, to provide further information on the introduction of international reciprocity and what that would mean to them.

More information

• Artists Resale Royalty website[92]
• Office of Arts Resale Royalty Scheme webpage[93]
• Australian Government Post-Implementation Review of resale royalty scheme[94]

Payments to content creators

We acquire data for distribution from a variety of sources, including surveys of usage by licensees and data that indicates content available to licensees. There are a series of processes involved in allocating payments to content creators based on the best data available at a reasonable cost within the relevant time period. These include analysing the available data and identifying recipients.

Distribution policy is overseen by the Board, and published on our website.[95] The Copyright Tribunal has power to review distribution arrangements for statutory licence fees.

In 2023–24, we allocated $102 million to more than 22,000 recipients, indirectly benefitting many others involved in the creative industries such as in-house writers and illustrators, and writers with contractual entitlements to a share of Copyright Agency payments that we do not pay directly.

The term ‘content creators’ includes all the people involved in the development, creation, and production of content, including staff of publishing companies as well as freelance contributors such as writers and illustrators.

For payments under the artists’ resale royalty scheme, see Part 9.

Payments to content creators by licence sector and publication type

The following table show allocations to content creators according to the type of publication the content was copied from, where relevant, and licence sector. It also shows the amounts for the annual artists’ and writers’ distributions. These are amount set aside from licence fees for artists and writers where there is limited usage data, and are in addition to allocations from other sources, such as to writers and illustrators with contractual entitlements to shares of allocations to books.

Payments and recipients by state and territory

The following table represents estimates, based on payees for whom we have information about the state in which they operate or live.

Allocation recipients for 2023–24

The following tables show amounts allocated in 2023–24, some of which may be paid in subsequent financial years. The distributions in 2023–24 included amounts unpaid from earlier allocations (four or more years ago for licence fees from the education and government sectors, and one or more years ago for licence fees from other sectors).

Categories

In the reports below, we have combined educational and scholarly publishing, as some people work in both.

Annual Writers Distribution and Annual Artists Distribution

We do annual distributions for writers and artists respectively, of funds from a variety of sources (including amounts set aside from licence fees from the education, government, and business sectors). These distributions are primarily for artists and writers who retain copyright, but do not receive payments for registered shares for books. In the tables below, we have shown the recipients from these distributions who did not receive a payment from the ‘main’ distribution.

The 2024 Annual Writers Distribution totalled $4.6m for nearly 6,500 writers, and the 2024 Annual Artists Distribution totalled $4.87m for nearly 4,500 artists.

Schools

The 2024 distribution included unpaid allocations from previous distributions (four or more years ago), totalling $0.42m.

We allocated more than $39m to more than 4,400 recipients in the following sectors. Recipients include organisations that employ writers and artists, as well as freelance writers and artists who receive a share of Copyright Agency allocations to books, either directly from us, or indirectly from their publishers.

We also allocated:

• $2.63m to nearly 4,500 artists as part of the Annual Artists Distribution
• $1.32m to nearly 6,000 writers as part of the Annual Writers Distribution

Sources of information for the distribution

The ‘main’ distribution was based on a number of information sources:

• provided by teachers participating in surveys of usage in samples of schools (from 2017 to 2020)
• provided by teachers in online questionnaires in 2021, 2022 and 2023
• recently published textbooks
• books in school library collections

Allocations to books

Our systems and processes encourage publishers to register the shares of allocations to books that are due to freelance writers and illustrators under their publishing contracts. Writers and illustrators can also request registration of shares. Registration of shares enables us to pay the writers and artists directly.

There were about 20,000 allocations from the main distribution, totalling $14.6m, to recipients with registered shares for books (writers, illustrators, and publishers). Of these, about 13,000 allocations totalling $6.5m were for writers and illustrators. The remainder (about 6,300 allocations totalling $8m) were for publishers.

There were also allocations to books, totalling about $19.9m, for which we did not have registered shares. We do not have information about amounts passed on by publishers to writers and illustrators from these payments.

Recipients of Copyright Agency payments also have writers and artists on staff, or are self-publishers of content that they create.

How copyright payments support education publishing for schools

Education publishing is part of Australia’s creative industries, supported by the copyright system.[98] The societal benefits of Australian content are widely recognised, and Australian content includes Australian education resources for Australian students. Unlike other areas of publishing, however, education publishing does not receive any government subsidies. In addition, the markets for Australian education resources for schools are small. Sometimes a resource is required for a single subject and grade level, or a single State or Territory to align with curriculum requirements. Copyright payments contribute to investment in future Australian education resources.

Many people involved in creating education resources are on staff of publishing entities. Many of them are former teachers. Nearly all education publishing projects are initiated by publishing entities, based on research and teacher feedback. In some cases, publishing entities commission freelance writers and illustrators to develop a project initiated by the publishing entity, after it is underway.

Education publishing is different to other areas of publishing in various respects.[99] For example, the process of publishing a novel starts with an author writing a manuscript for review by a publisher.[100] In education publishing, the process starts with a publisher evaluating the market, conceiving a project, and sourcing expert educator author teams. The writing generally occurs at a later stage.

The publishing entities that receive payments from Copyright Agency vary enormously. The publishing entities that receive payments from Copyright Agency vary enormously. The resources that they publish include textbooks, student resources, teacher resources, worksheets, workbooks, fact sheets, lesson plans, assessment guides and assessment tasks.

The range of entities includes those that:

• publish education resources on a range of subject areas;
• specialise in particular subject areas (like teacher associations who use publishing income to support professional services for their members);
• specialise in a particular aspect of a subject area, like literacy or writing; and
• specialise in assessment.

They range in size from entities with more than 100 staff that commission content from hundreds of writers and illustrators to small businesses with fewer than 20 staff (usually producing all material in-house) to micro-businesses of one or two people (producing all material themselves).

Some publish resources in both print and digital formats, and some publish only in digital formats. Those that publish digital only recognise that there can be pedagogical benefits of printed material for school students, and that the education statutory licence enables their resources to be printed and copied.

Universities

The licence fees distributed from the university sector included $0.38 million of unpaid allocations from previous distributions (four or more years ago).

TAFEs

The 2024 distribution included unpaid allocations from previous distributions (four or more years ago), totalling $0.07m.

Other education providers (individually licensed education institutions)

The 2024 distribution included unpaid allocations from previous distributions (four or more years ago), totalling $0.2m.

Governments

The following table show licence fees for ‘blanket’ licence fees from governments and does not include licence fees from governments for sales of survey plans. The 2024 distribution included licence fees from the Commonwealth for 2023 that we received those after the cutoff date for 2023 distribution.

The 2024 distribution included unpaid allocations from previous distributions (four or more years ago), totalling $0.14m.

Payments to individual creators

All content is created by individuals. They do so in a large variety of scenarios, which include:

1. it is part of their salaried employment: for example, they are on the staff of a publishing company as a writer, illustrator, editor or software developer
2. they are commissioned to create specific content (e.g., that a publisher requires for a textbook) for a payment
3. they create content, then look for a publisher
4. they create work that they choose to license for free because they are not dependent on income from their content

In educational publishing, (1) and (2) are more common than (3). In trade publishing, (3) is common for fiction, and (2) more common for non-fiction.

Payment options for (2) and (3) include:

1. an upfront fee that includes a copyright buyout;
2. an upfront fee and royalties from sales; and
3. an advance against future royalties, then royalties once the advance is recouped.

In (b) and (c), publishing contracts commonly provide that the creators will receive all Copyright Agency payments (rather than sharing them) when a book is out of print.

We have partial information about Copyright Agency payments for individual creators who are contracted by publishers to create content in return for a fee. This is where members have provided us with information about how payments are to be shared among rightsholders.

Our information about the following is very limited:

• how many individual creators are on the staff of organisations that receive Copyright Agency payments;
• the components of upfront fees that relate to buyout of future Copyright Agency allocations; and
• the sharing arrangements for Copyright Agency payments for books that we do not yet have registered shares for.

In 2023–24, we made allocations to writers and artists, totalling $20.7m.

These included allocations for registered writers’ and artists’ shares of allocations to books, totalling $8.3 million.

The allocations to publishers with registered shares for books totalled $10.2 million.

The range of shares for freelance writers and illustrators is set out in the table below. Titles with small shares for freelance writers and illustrators usually involve other creative input from writers and illustrators on staff, and/or an upfront fee that that covered entitlement to Copyright Agency payments.

Why payments are important to members

Most respondents to our member survey in July 2023 said that copyright payments are important to them. Some examples of reasons members gave for the importance of payments were:

• I have invested funds into producing over 25 books for schools across Australia
• We rely on these payments to reinvest into our business to grow and look after our writers better.
• They represent a substantial portion of our income, since people are copying material rather than buying books.
• It would be hard to finance new works without the payments.
• Extra revenue to employ staff, target new products etc.
• Copyright payments are a valuable source of income for our company. It is also important that creators are recompensed adequately for use of their copyright materials.
• We pay salaries to journalists who work hard to publish stories. It is important we are subsidised for the information we produce.
• It would be hard to finance new works without the payments.
• Fund future publications
• It provides recognition of the work as well as financial investment for future endeavours.
• the payments are a valuable investment in my creativity
• Many authors and artists receive only limited income from their work through commissions, publication and other paid opportunities. Copyright payments enable more sustainable commitments by creative professionals who invest considerable time into producing their work.
• Because it’s payment for reproductions of my work that helps fund the creation of new work
• It is an important source of income for me, it allows me to continue to draw and produce new work
• It has been at many times a stabilising aspect and has come in times of great need
• It provides me with encouragement to continue producing material

More information

• distribution policy[101]
• deductions from licence fees (Fees)[102]
• distribution schedule, including links to infosheets[103]
• unpaid allocations[104]

Cultural Fund

Copyright Agency’s Constitution allows the Board to allocate up to 1.5% of income to support writers, visual artists, publishers, creative organisations and Reading Australia through the Cultural Fund.[105] With an annual budget of approximately $1.6 million the Cultural Fund supports a wide variety of projects each year.

In 2023–24, $1,695,840[106] was approved through the Cultural Fund for 82 projects, including five Create Grants, four Copyright Agency Fellowships including Reading Australia and the inaugural Frank Moorhouse Fellowship for Young Writers. A one-off donation was made to the Writers Benevolent Fund. 16 multiyear projects funded previously were also paid in 2023–24 and are included here to present an overall summary of Cultural Fund support.

The Cultural Fund deduction from the distribution of the back payment (funds held in escrow for 2019 to 2022) from the university sector in 2023 will enhance Reading Australia over a four-year period.

Recipients by category 2023–24

Some of the amounts paid were approved in previous years.

Projects supported by the Cultural Fund in 2023–24

The following projects were approved for funding in 2023–24. These, and projects supported in previous years, are described in more detail on our website.[107] In some cases, the funding was approved for a project spanning up to three years.

Fellowships 2023–24

The following applicants were successful for Fellowships in 2023–24.

CREATE grants 2023–24

The following applicants were successful for Create Grants in 2023–24.

Promoting projects supported by the Cultural Fund

We promote many of the projects supported by the Cultural Fund in a variety of ways, including media releases, news items on our website, e-newsletters (Creative Licence and CANVAS) and social media. For projects that involve author or artist participation (e.g. writers’ festivals, events), one of our objectives is to increase awareness of, attendance and participation, and we do this through our various communication channels, to complement the supported organisation’s own promotion.

Reading Australia

Reading Australia (readingaustralia.com.au) is a Copyright Agency initiative to support the teaching and reading of Australian literature in schools. The Cultural Fund allocates approximately $100,000 a year to Reading Australia for:

• commissioning new resources and material for teachers;
• partnerships with:
• teachers and teaching associations;
• librarians and school library associations;
• book publishers; and
• reading and literature organisations;
• conferences, stakeholder engagement, and website development; and
• the Reading Australia Fellowship for Teachers of English and Literacy.

Since 2013, Reading Australia has been developed in partnership with the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) and Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE).

Reading Australia began as a list of 200 books chosen by a panel from the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) to celebrate the work of leading Australian writers and illustrators. Recently its focus has been to publish resources for books that are being taught in schools, or are mapped to curriculum, and for important literary titles that should be taught in classrooms.

There are currently 291 resources covering all year levels from Foundation to Senior Secondary. These units of work are designed to help teachers navigate Australian texts within the framework of the Australian Curriculum.

Reading Australia Developments in 2023–24

• Recorded the following:
• 25,920 total subscribers (up 2.5% from 25,299)
• 536,542 resource downloads (and a total of 2,250,252 lifetime downloads)
• 524,946 active sessions on the website (and a total of 3,457,549 lifetime sessions)
• 548,650 unique visitors to the website (and a total of 2,708,161 lifetime visitors)
• Published 19 new resources (291 total), including:
• 11 for primary teachers (124 in total)
• 8 for secondary teachers (167 in total)
• 5 resources for books by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander authors (80 in total)
• Celebrated 10 years of Reading Australia
• Awarded the fifth Reading Australia Fellowship to Bridget Forster (Mentone Girls’ Grammar, VIC)
• Attended/presented at:
• the 2023 AATE/ALEA National Conference (Canberra, ACT), with 2022 Reading Australia Fellow Jantiena Batt and Wiradjuri/Welsh educator and resource writer Cara Shipp
• the 2023 MANTLE Conference (Newcastle, NSW) for teacher librarians
• the 2024 School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) Conference (Melbourne, VIC)
• Interviewed Cara Shipp as part of the 2023 Literature Symposium advocating for the power and pleasure of stories
• Partnered with the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) to create records for Reading Australia resources
• Ongoing support for the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation (ACLF), including promoting Reading Australia titles that complement free monthly audiobooks
• Ongoing engagement with Australian publishers to create resources and promote Reading Australia authors and titles

More information

• Cultural Fund webpage[108] including links to:
• how to apply for funding
• projects and people supported by the fund

Money held for rightsholders and reserves

At any given time, we are holding money for payment to rightsholders and reserves. The amount of money for payment to rightsholders changes significantly over the course of a year, increasing with the receipt of licence fees, and decreasing with the payments to rightsholders.

The reasons that licence fees may not have been paid at a given time include:

• the licence fees were only recently received;
• we have not yet received the information needed to allocate to rightsholders; and
• fees have been allocated, but not yet paid, to rightsholders.

Money held at 30 June 2024 for payment to rightsholders

As at 30 June 2024, we were holding the following funds for payment to members representing:

Licence fees received but not yet allocated at 30 June 2024

The table below shows licence fees we were holding at 30 June 2024 that were not yet allocated. We make a deduction for anticipated operating costs and for the Cultural Fund before we allocate to rightsholders.

Time between invoice and distribution of licence fees from schools and universities

Licence fees for January to December 2024 were due from the school sector in April 2024, and allocated to rightsholders in May 2024. Most allocations were paid to rightsholders by 30 June 2024.

Licence fees payable by members of Universities Australia are invoiced quarterly and paid to members twice a year, in November and June. The fees for January to June 2024 were due in April 2024, allocated to rightsholders in May 2024, and mostly paid to rightsholders by 30 June 2024.

Number of allocations

Each year we make hundreds of thousands of allocations to rightsholders from a variety of sources, for a range of amounts.

In 2023–24, we made more than 290,000 allocations (excluding survey plan sales). The following table shows allocations by licence sector:

The table below indicates the range of allocations. For each allocation, we make the best use of the information available to us, and resources proportionate to the amount allocated, to allocate the amount to the correct rightsholder.

Many recipients receive multiple allocations, so the aggregate amounts are greater than those listed above.

Steps taken to locate rightsholders

Our steps for locating rightsholders include researching contact details, direct contact by email or phone, and indirect contact via relevant professional associations, such as associations for writers, artists, publishers, and surveying firms. These rightsholders include members who have not updated their contact and bank details with us, as well as non-members. In order to keep our operating costs at a reasonable level, our application of resources to locating a rightsholder needs to be proportionate to the amount allocated to the rightsholder. In 2023–24, our new 1,437 new members included 354 (primarily authors) contacted by us to receive payments that we were holding for them, totalling nearly $800,000

Why allocated funds have not yet been paid

The government guidelines for declared collecting societies refer to the following as reasons for a collecting society holding unpaid allocations:

• the society has lost contact with the member concerned;
• the qualified person entitled is not currently a member;
• the relevant copyright owner or agent entitled to the amount is not finally ascertained;
• there is a dispute as to entitlement;
• the accumulated aggregate amount due to a member would be uneconomic to distribute, i.e., is below a threshold limit;
• a portion of funds collected cannot be allocated immediately as there is presently inadequate data for apportionment;
• monies are required, under mutual arrangements, to be held pending acquittal with a foreign society; and
• it is desired to set aside a specific sum to meet ex gratia claims which might later arise in respect of the current period[111]

The following is a breakdown of allocations that we were holding at 30 June 2024, that have not yet been paid.

Unpaid allocations for return to members

We are required to hold allocations from statutory licence fees for at least four years. Under our current distribution policy, allocations from non-statutory licence fees can be released after 12 months. The Board determines how unpaid allocations that are no longer held for specific rightsholders (‘rollovers’) will be applied. Since 1 July 2022, we have included rollovers in distributions. In Part 12 (Expenses), we have set out how rollovers were applied from FY14 to FY22.

The table shows the sources of licence fees that remained unpaid in 2022–23 from statutory licence allocations in 2019–20, that we are no longer holding for the rightsholders to whom the allocations were originally made. The table also shows allocations from non-statutory licence fees in 2022–23 that we are no longer holding for the rightsholders for whom the allocations were originally made.

Reasons allocations were not paid before rollover

In some cases, an allocation does not end up being paid to the rightsholder it was initially allocated to. The table below summarises the reasons for allocations remaining unpaid and being ‘rolled over’ in 2023–24.

Relationship to licence fees

Most of the licence fees that Copyright Agency receives are from annual ‘blanket’ licences that allow licensees to copy, adapt and share content on an ‘all-you-can-eat’ basis for a fixed fee, like a subscription. Part of the value of the licence is that licensees do not have to identify rightsholders, seek permissions, or find alternative content if a permission is not available.

For example, in 2023–24, the Australian school sector paid a fixed amount representing $13 per student. The fixed fee allowed Australian teachers to copy, adapt and share as much of the content available to them under the education statutory licence as they wanted to. The licence fees for 2023–24 were allocated in May 2024, using a number of sources of data, including data from surveys in small samples of schools that were conducted up to March 2020.[114] There were more than 38,000 allocations to rightsholders of varying amounts (with some rightsholders receiving multiple allocations). There may be a small proportion of those allocations that remain unpaid in four years’ time. If there is, the value of the licence to teachers and others in the school sector in 2023–24 is unchanged.

Reserves as at 30 June 2024

As at 30 June 2024, we were holding the following reserves:

Reservation of amounts for continued operations and contingencies

The Australian government guidelines for collecting societies that are appointed to manage statutory licences allow us to reserve amounts from allocation and distribution for continued operation and contingencies.[115]

Establishment of Future Fund in 2013

In 2013, the Board considered the best interests of members, and potential costs associated with continued operation, in the light of the following external circumstances:

• the decision of Canadian education institutions to not renew their licensing arrangements with the copyright management organisation, Access Copyright; and
• recommendations by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to both introduce a US-style ‘fair use’ exception and repeal the education statutory licence.

The Board considered that there was a real risk that developments similar to those in Canada could eventuate if the ALRC recommendations were implemented.[116] It therefore decided to hold interest and rollovers in reserve to meet potential future expenses associated with continued operation in the event of developments such as had occurred in Canada.

The Board has reviewed the reserve periodically since it was established, as noted in previous annual reports and Directors’ Reports.

In 2017, the Board reported that it had determined to maintain the Fund but that it would periodically review the need for it and any amounts no longer required for safeguarding members’ interests will be returned to members.

At 13.4, we show payments into and out of the fund from FY14 to FY24.

Indemnity Fund

Copyright Agency has an Indemnity Fund to compensate rightsholders for use of their content in connection with licences managed by Copyright Agency. For example, Copyright Agency’s Distribution Policy provides for an ex-gratia payment to a rightsholder who can establish that their work was substantially copied under a licence, but who received little or no payment for that use (e.g. because the use occurred in a school that did not participate in the surveys of copying that were used for distribution).

Funds for distribution and reserves at 30 June 2014–23

More information

• distribution policy[117]
• unpaid allocations[118]

Expenses

Copyright Agency’s Board must approve the company’s annual operating budget. There is a breakdown of expenses, with notes on some items, on page 15 of the Directors’ Report and Financial Report for the year ended 30 June 2024 (annexed).

Nearly all expenses were met from deductions for operating costs from licence fees distributed in 2023–24 (totalling $20.42 million).[119]

Deductions for anticipated operating costs

We publish information about our deductions from licence fees for anticipated operating costs on our Fees webpage.[120] From October 2023 to September 2024, our fixed deductions for anticipated operating costs were as follows:

• pay-per-use licences for text(e.g. through RightsPortal): 13.5%
• pay-per-use licences for artworksissued by the Visual Arts team: 13.8%
• licence fees from media monitoring licences: 8.5%
• artists’ resale royalty scheme: 15%

The deduction for all other licence fees was $16.3%.

From October 2024, the deduction for licence fees without a fixed deduction is 16.5%.

Deduction for Cultural Fund

In addition to the deductions for anticipated operating costs, we deduct 1.5% from most licence fees for the Cultural Fund.[121]

Major factors contributing to costs

Our main cost is the staff who are responsible for negotiation and collection of licence fees, collection, and processing of data for distribution, processes relating to distribution of licence fees, and member services. The other major cost is our information technology infrastructure, which supports collection and distribution of licence fees and member services.

Ratio of costs met from deductions from licence fees in 2023–24 to revenue

In 2023–24, recognised revenue was $129.2 million, and total expenses met from deductions from licence fees during 2023–24 were $20.24 million.

The following represents our total net expenditure, met from deductions from licence fees, as a proportion of our total revenue (including investments and recoveries).

Reserves (Future Fund) retained and spent to 30 June 2024

Application of rollovers over time

Before FY14, unpaid allocations (rollovers) were included in funds for distribution. From FY14 to FY16, rollovers were held in reserve, in the Future Fund (as shown above). Since July 2022, rollovers have been included in funds for distribution.

The following table shows how rollovers were applied from FY16 to FY22. There was a ‘backlog’ of rollovers in FY19 due to some limitations in our systems that were resolved in FY19.

Staff remuneration and performance

All employees have a position description outlining the responsibilities and key competencies required for their role.

The organisation endeavours to inform staff of the strategic direction of the organisation via several channels. The objective of this is to ensure that departmental deliverables are aligned with the company’s strategic plan.

All employees have a position description outlining the responsibilities and key competencies required for their role.

One of the channels are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which are set each financial year and cascaded down from the senior management team to ensure alignment with the business requirements. They are then reviewed and agreed upon by employees with their manager, and performance objectives and targets are determined.

All staff members are also required to attend an employee planning day three times a year, where their departmental plans and KPIs are reviewed to determine their progress.

Our employees have regular informal Quarterly Feedback Sessions (QFS) and one formal performance review each year, during which an individual’s performance is reviewed against the agreed objectives. Recommendations for annual remuneration are based on:

• the assessment of each employee’s performance against those objectives;
• benchmarking against similar positions in comparable organisations;
• overall company performance; and
• market and economic conditions.

Final decisions regarding remuneration are made after considering managers’ recommendations, external benchmarks and environment, salary relativities within the company and our financial capacity.

• In 2023–24, employee benefits expenses were 54% of our operating costs
• Staffing levels vary from time to time in accordance with requirements
• Staff include full-time employees, part-time employees and contractors
• In 2023–24, staffing levels ranged from 59.62 full-time equivalent (FTE) to 57.51 FTE
• As at 30 June 2024, there were 57.51 FTE staff

As at 30 June 2024, the median remuneration (including superannuation and excluding bonus and commission) for all staff was $149,389.

More information

• Fees webpage[123]
• Our People webpage[124]

Policy and advocacy

We monitor and seek to influence policy developments that affect copyright-based licence fees and other income for content creators. We form policy positions in consultation with a range of stakeholders, including industry and professional bodies representing content creators.

The objects in Copyright Agency’s Constitution include:

• to promote and foster the interests of owners of copyrights and neighbouring rights; and
• to support or oppose any legislation which might affect the Company’s interests.[125]

Members expect us to represent their interests, and that we will retain an appropriate proportion of licence fees in order to do so. This was confirmed by the responses to our 2023 member survey. The extent of that representation is affected by external developments, including recommendations for changes to legislation that adversely affect content creators. Our submissions are available from our website.[126]

Developments in 2023–24

In 2023–4, our core focus for advocacy was AI-related issues. This included advocating for a new law to compensate Australians whose works have been used in other countries for training AI models such as large language models, and for policy settings that allow for remuneration to people working in Australia’s creative industries for the use of their works for ethical AI-related development in Australia. Our advocacy has included submissions to policy inquiries, meetings with policy makers, and coordination with other creative industry organisations. We have also reported on AI-related developments in the News section of our website.

Attorney-General’s Copyright Roundtable

In 2023–24, we continued to participate in the Attorney General’s Copyright Roundtable, established in February 2023. The five issues addressed by the roundtable were: orphan works, quotation, remote learning, definition of ‘broadcast’, and artificial intelligence (AI).

In December 2023, the Attorney General convened the fourth and final roundtable. The Attorney-General’s Department published a high-level summary of the fourth roundtable, and outcomes papers on each of the issues (here). A key outcome was the Attorney General’s announcement of a Copyright and AI reference group (here).  Copyright Agency was a signatory to a joint announcement by creator organisations welcoming the reference group, and setting out key considerations for the Government’s next steps on AI: see here.

Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group (CAIRG)

CAIRG has about 60 members, which include Copyright Agency. We have participated in each of the CAIRG meetings. We are also a member of the Steering Committee (comprising 20 organisations). The Attorney-General’s Department publishes information about CAIRG’s activities on its website (here).

Other Roundtable matters

In 2023–4, we worked with the government and other stakeholders to reach a consensus solution to some perceived uncertainties about remote learning that were raised by some in the school sector.[127]

We have also engaged with stakeholders on a potential consensus solution for uses of ‘orphan works’ (works for which a copyright owners cannot be found).

Submissions in 2023–4

We made submissions to:

• House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training on Use of generative artificial intelligence in the Australian education system (July 2023), and appeared before the Committee in January 2024
• Department of Industry, Science and Resources on Safe and Responsible AI in Australia (July 2023)
• Department of Education on A Better and Fairer Education System (August 2023)
• Department of Education on Universities Accord Interim Report (September 2023)
• New South Wales Government on Shaping policy for the arts and cultural sector (September 2023)
• Inquiry by Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence in Australia (May 2024)
• Australian Consumer and Competition Authority (ACCC) on Digital Platform Services Inquiry – September 2024 report revisiting general search services (May 2024)
• House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training on Digital Transformation of Workplaces
• Office for the Arts on Stand-alone legislation to protect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (July 2024)
• Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society on Social Media and Australian Society (July 2024)

Submissions are available from our website.

Stakeholder engagement

Copyright Agency’s stakeholders include content creators, content users (licensees), and the Australian government.

Content creator stakeholders include members of Copyright Agency; potential members; artists entitled to royalties under the artists resale royalty scheme; and professional organisations for content creators (such as Australian Society of Authors, Australian Publishers Association, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance and National Association for the Visual Arts).

Content user stakeholders include people who use content under licences (e.g., teachers, government employees, businesses), professional associations for those users (such as teacher associations and unions), and people who negotiate licence fees and other arrangements for their sector (such as Copyright Advisory Group and Universities Australia). They also include art market professionals and art purchasers covered by the artists resale royalty scheme.

Copyright Agency has a stakeholder relationship with the Australian government in four areas:

• the government’s appointments of Copyright Agency to manage the statutory licence schemes for the education and government sectors, and the artists’ resale royalty scheme (which include tabling of annual reports in Parliament);
• reviews of, and proposed changes to, legislation affecting copyright payments and royalties (principally the legislation relating to copyright and to the artists resale royalty scheme);
• as a licensee; and
• as an owner of copyright.

Copyright Agency also has stakeholder relationships with State and Territory governments, including in their capacity as licensees, and as owners of copyright.

We have ongoing engagement with these key stakeholder sectors, including via face-to-face and online meetings and email. We have outlined engagement on policy issues in the previous section.

News and information via e-newsletters (EDMs)

We send emails of curated links to content on our website to different stakeholder groups:

• CANVAS: for artists, art market professionals and others interested in the visual arts
• Education Plus: for individually licensed education institutions such as registered training organisations
• FLEX: for individually licensed education institutions that are using FLEX
• Licence Plus: for businesses with annual business licences

Reconciliation Action Plan

We have had a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) since 2015.[128] Our current Innovate RAP has seen increased staff engagement with internal and external reconciliation events. We are working towards our fourth RAP for 2024–25. Our vision is to build a platform that champions First Nations voices and forms of cultural expression. Our implementation includes support for emerging First Nations editors through the Black&Write! Project and other publishing industry initiatives, attending and supporting the First Nations Australia Writers Network Industry Roundtable, grants to organisations and publishers to commission and publish new works by First Nations writers and artists; promotion of First Nations writers at writers’ festivals; procurement via Supply Nation; and cultural competency training for staff.

Governance and accountability

Copyright Agency is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies.[129] Matters covered in the Code include governance and accountability, education and awareness, and complaints and disputes.

We report annually to the Code Reviewer on our compliance with the requirements of the Code, and the Code Reviewer’s report is published on the Code of Conduct website.

In conjunction with the Government’s appointment of Copyright Agency to manage the statutory licence for education in 1990, the Attorney-General’s Department developed guidelines for collecting societies.[130]

Our Constitution (which reflects some of the requirements in the guidelines) is available from our website, as is our Client Service Charter, Privacy Policy, and profiles of board directors.

Our Complaints Procedure and Disputes Resolution Procedure are available on our website.

The Copyright Tribunal has powers to determine aspects of licensing arrangements, including compensation fees payable under statutory licences, and distribution arrangements.

Developments in 2023–24

• Code Reviewer’s report on collecting societies’ compliance with the Code of Conduct in 2022–23 published (available on Code of Conduct website)
• report to Code Reviewer on compliance with the Code of Conduct 2023–24 (available on Code of Conduct website)

More information

• Code of Conduct website[131]
• Report by Bureau of Communications and the Arts from Review of Code of Conduct for Australian Collecting Societies[132]
• Our Governance webpage

[1] abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4221.0.

[2] https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/stats-publications/

[3] https://www.ncver.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0041/9673493/Government-funded-students-and-courses-2021.pdf

[4] Number of employees covered by Copyright Agency’s licensing agreements.

[5] This includes ultimate recipients for whom we have made payments to agents such as literary agents and art centres.

[6] www.copyright.com.au/about-us/governance/

[7] https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/our-people/our-board/

[8] The term ‘content creators’ includes all the people involved in the development, creation and production of content, including staff of publishing companies as well as freelance contributors such as writers and illustrators.

[9] From statutory and voluntary licences, but not the artists’ resale royalty scheme or payments from Screenrights for artists.

[10] Principally Screenrights (broadcast content), APRA AMCOS (music compositions), and PPCA (recorded music).

[11] www.copyrighttribunal.gov.au

[12] https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/

[13] Report to Consider what Alterations are Desirable in the Copyright Law of the Commonwealth (the Spicer Report) (1959): this report preceded the introduction of the current Copyright Act 1968.

[14] Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), available at jade.io/article/218245.

[15] Other forms of intellectual property include patents, trade marks and designs: see ipaustralia.gov.au/understanding-intellectual-property

[16] Creators have these rights in their work even if they do not own copyright.

[17] The primary copyright treaty, the Berne Convention, provides that parties are not required to have an artists’ resale right, but that if they do they must provide reciprocity to nationals of other countries that have the right. In Australia, the right is granted by the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009 (Cth), overseen by the Minister for the Arts. One of the key arguments for the right is that it benefits ‘fine artists’ who receive fewer benefits from the copyright system than other creators (such as writers and composers) whose work is primarily created for copying and communication rather than the value of the ‘original’ version.

[18] www.copyright.com.au/duration

[19] For an overview of all the statutory licences, see Ricketson & Creswell, The Law of Intellectual Property: Copyright Designs & Confidential Information.

[20] Australia is party to a number of treaties, such as the Berne Convention administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Australia is also party to a number of bilateral and other agreements that affect copyright, such as the Australia–US Free Trade Agreement.

[21] Ricketson & Creswell, The Law of Intellectual Property: Copyright Designs & Confidential Information.

[22] For example, the use of print music in schools is mostly done under the AMCOS print music licence rather than the statutory licence, because it allows the copying of entire works that are available for purchase (provided the school purchases the requisite number of originals), though the statutory licence remains available to schools for uses not covered by the AMCOS agreement.

[23] Copyright Agency was ‘declared’ by the Attorney General in 1990 as the collecting society for the statutory licence for education, and by the Copyright Tribunal in 1998 as the collecting society for government copies of ‘works’ and ‘published editions’.

[24] Report of the Copyright Law Committee on Reprographic Reproduction (AGPS, Canberra, 1976), known as the Franki Report.

[25] By the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 (Cth).

[26] The Guidelines and Constitution are available at www.copyright.com.au/governance.

[27] Report of the Committee Appointed by the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth to Consider what Alterations are Desirable in the Copyright Law of the Commonwealth (1959), known as the Spicer Report, at [404]

[28] The statutory licence in section 183 of the Act allows the Commonwealth, States and Territories to use any copyright material for the services of the Crown. The amendments empowered the Copyright Tribunal to appoint (‘declare’) collecting societies to manage ‘government copies’. Copyright Agency was declared as the collecting society in relation to ‘works’ (other than those embodied in films and sound recordings) and ‘published editions’ in 1998. Screenrights is the declared society for broadcast content. For uses that are not ‘government copies’ managed by a declared collecting society, the government must (unless it is contrary to the public interest) notify the copyright owner and either agree terms with the copyright owner, or have terms determined by the Copyright Tribunal. The legislation does not empower the Tribunal to declare a collecting society in relation to ‘communications’ made under the statutory licence, but Copyright Agency operates as agent for its members by accepting notification and negotiating terms.

[29] Some other countries have provision for ‘extended collective licensing’, which is similar to statutory licensing but allows a copyright owner to ‘opt out’.

[30] www.copyright.org.au

[31] The recognised revenue from 2019 to 2022 was affected by proceedings in the Copyright Tribunal. The amount for 2021–22 took into account a determination of the Copyright Tribunal, which was appealed by the university sector. The amount for 2022–23 takes into account an agreement reached between Copyright Agency and Universities Australia in February 2023 that covered fees payable for 2023–26, and additional fees payable for 2019–22.

[32] Revenue includes one-off ‘retrospective’ payments for past sales of survey plans in some years.

[33] The recognised revenue for 2021–22 was affected by proceedings in the Copyright Tribunal. The amount for 2023–24 is due to accounting in 2023–24 from the settlement.

[34] LearningField ceased operation at the end of 2019.

[35] These are allocations made in 2023–24 rather than payments. In some cases, an allocation made in one financial year is paid in a subsequent financial year.

[36] Membership is open to owners of copyright and their agents.

[37] The class of membership determines voting entitlements for the three elected members of the board: the elected Author, Visual Artist, and Publisher directors.

[38] www.ifrro.org

[39] www.cisac.org

[40] www.pdln.info

[41] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/

[42] https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/international-affiliates/

[43] https://www.ifrro.org/

[44] https://www.cisac.org/

[45] https://www.pdln.info/

[46] The statutory licence was first introduced in 1980 and has been amended numerous times, including in 2000 to cover digital content and communication, and in 2017 to simplify the legislative framework.

[47] There are also arrangements for use of music in schools and universities through the music collecting societies, APRA AMCOS and PPCA.

[48] CAG (Schools) reports to the Australian Education Senior Officials Committee, the National Catholic Education Commission and Independent Schools Australia. CAG is assisted by the National Copyright Unit (NCU), the specialist copyright team responsible for copyright policy and administration for Australian schools and TAFE, based in the NSW Department of Education.

[49] Since 2006, Victorian TAFEs have been represented by their own self-funded association, Victorian TAFE Association (VTA).

[50] There are 42 Australian Universities registered by TEQSA. UA represents 39. The remaining three – Torrens University Australia, University of Divinity and Avondale University – are individually licensed.

[51] https://www.copyright.com.au/2023/10/introducing-the-new-rate-card-for-private-education-providers/ and https://www.copyright.com.au/2023/10/changes-to-licence-fees-for-individually-licensed-education-institutions/

[52] https://www.copyright.com.au/2023/07/update-on-data-collection-from-school-sector/

[53] The university sector is continuing to provide usage data from eight universities a year while the working group is in progress.

[54] https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/school-expenditure

[55] https://www.copyright.com.au/2023/07/update-on-data-collection-from-school-sector/

[56] Summary of licence scope at https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/copying-under-education-licence/

[57] Summary of licence scope at https://www.cla.co.uk/licencetocopy

[58] https://www.cla.co.uk/excluded-works

[59] CLA’s online search tool enables licensees to check which publications, including online content, are covered by their licences

[60] These are a significant proportion of copying done under the Australian education statutory licence, particularly in primary schools.

[61] Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) acts as an agent for Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) in education and sells the NLA licence to schools and universities on their behalf: https://www.cla.co.uk/nla-schools-licence

[62] Most schools are also covered by a licence from APRA AMCOS that allows copying of entire pieces of sheet music that the school has purchased: see https://www.apraamcos.com.au/music-licences/select-a-licence/educational-institutions

[63] As licensed (separately to the CLA licence) by Printed Music Licensing Limited https://www.cla.co.uk/schools-printed-music-licence.

[64] That would otherwise require permission from copyright owner.

[65] Where the publisher has expressly opted into Copyright Licensing Agency’s licences.

[66] e.g. theses, dissertations, assignments, company reports, catalogues, brochures: the Australian education statutory licence allows the copying of all this material (i.e.  teacher does not have to worry about permissions requirements), but the nature of the material is taken into account when assessing the value (if any) for licensing fees.

[67] Can sometimes be an entire publication.

[68] Regulation 73(2)(c): ‘the need to ensure adequate incentive for the production of educational works, educational sound recordings and educational cinematograph films in Australia.

[69] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/schools/top-50-books-teachers-chose-to-copy/

[70] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/early-childhood-education-licence

[71] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/

[72] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/schools/top-50-books-teachers-chose-to-copy/

[73] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/educational-licences/flex/

[74] The statutory licence is in Part VII Division 2 of the Copyright Act

[75] Screenrights is similarly declared for broadcast content.

[76] The legislation does not enable the Tribunal to ‘declare’ Copyright Agency for communication, only for ‘government copies’.

[77] ASL

[78] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/government-licences/

[79] Links from https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/government-licences/

[80] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/government-licences/sales-of-survey-plans-by-governments/

[81] rightsportal.copyright.com.au/

[82] www.copyright.com.au/excluded-works

[83] rightsportal.copyright.com.au/

[84] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/commercial-licences/

[85] https://www.copyright.com.au/licences-permission/visual-art-licences/

[86] https://copyrightagency.imagegallery.me/

[87] Royalties are paid to successors in title after an artist’s death. The legislation allows for the scheme to be extended to artists and successors in title from other countries with similar schemes, by listing those countries in regulations. At the time of writing, no countries were listed.

[88] Resales for $1,000 or more.

[89] All resales must be reported, and Copyright Agency determines which resales are subject to a royalty. A royalty is not payable if the artwork was acquired by the vendor before the commencement of the scheme. Other reasons for a royalty not being payable are: the artist is not an Australian national or resident, and (if the artist has died), there are no beneficiaries with the requisite connection to Australia.

[90] In some cases, artists elect to receive payment directly from the art market professional and, in some cases, artists decline payment for particular resales (e.g., charity auctions).

[91] which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/_0wo0pBDKK8?si=DuitSE3rJYOhWref

[92] https://www.resaleroyalty.org.au/

[93] https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/resale-royalty-scheme

[94] https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/post-implementation-review-resale-royalty-right-visual-artists-act-2009-and-resale-royalty-scheme

[95] www.copyright.com.au/distribution-policy

[96] Other than book, journal, magazine, newspaper.

[97] Includes educational resources such as worksheets, activity sheets, practice tests and lesson plans.

[98] The National Cultural Policy refers to the role of the copyright system at page 57.

[99] See, for example, the 2016 research paper from Macquarie University, that provides a useful comparison of trade publishing (e.g., of a novel) and education publishing: Disruption and Innovation in the Australian Book Industry, at page 314, available at https://www.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/705866/DisruptionandInnovationintheAustralianBookIndustryFINAL16Feb.pdf.

[100] Even when initiated by a writer, a publishing project has significant creative input from the publisher in the development of a ‘raw’ manuscript to final version, as well as a range of elements of production.

[101] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/payments/distribution-policy/

[102] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/administration-fees/

[103] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/payments/distribution-schedule/

[104] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/payments/unpaid-allocations/

[105] copyright.com.au/culturalfund. The deduction does not apply to artists’ resale royalties or payments from Screenrights for artists.

[106] Approved but will be paid in 2023–24

[107]copyright.com.au/culturalfund/projects-supported-by-the-cultural-fund/

[108] https://www.copyright.com.au/culturalfund/

[109] This includes amounts that will be deducted for operating costs.

[110] Based on deduction of 16.3% for anticipated operating costs and 1.5% for Cultural Fund.

[111] Clause 17.

[112] We initially allocated to a rightsholder who advised they were not entitled to the allocation, and we are in the process of identifying another rightsholder.

[113] We initially allocated to a rightsholder who advised they were not entitled to the allocation, and we have been unable to identify another rightsholder.

[114] Surveys in schools were paused in March 2020, and have not been resumed. Copyright Agency is continuing to work on developing new methods of data collection from schools, using modern technologies, with the assistance of the Copyright Tribunal.

[115] https://static-copyright-com-au.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2015/04/R00561-Guidelines-for-declaring-Collecting-Societies-2001-1.pdf at Article 10.

[116] Access Copyright’s attempts to restore licensing revenue for its members via the Copyright Board and the courts have ended in 2021 after 10 years, with an adverse decision of the Supreme Court: https://www.accesscopyright.ca/media/announcements/supreme-court-of-canada-refuses-to-legitimize-uncompensated-copying-by-the-education-sector. In July 2023, Access Copyright announced that it would significantly downsize, in the absence of legislative change to restore licensing arrangements: https://www.accesscopyright.ca/media/announcements/canadian-writers-visual-artists-and-publishers-lose-the-ability-to-have-their-rights-and-interests-protected-as-federal-government-fails-to-deliver-on-its-promise-to-fix-canada-s-publishing-marketplace/

[117] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/payments/distribution-policy/

[118] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/payments/unpaid-allocations/

[119] $64,011 was paid from the Indemnity Fund Reserve. There were no payments from the Future Fund Reserve.

[120] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/administration-fees/

[121] This does not apply to artists’ resale royalties or to copyright fees for artworks in broadcasts, collected by Screenrights and distributed by Copyright Agency. The costs of administering the Cultural Fund are met from general operating expenses.

[122] This included some amounts rolled over from distributions before FY12.

[123] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/administration-fees/

[124] https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/our-people/

[125] https://static-copyright-com-au.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2015/04/Copyright-Agency-Constitution-2017-.pdf

[126] https://www.copyright.com.au/membership/advocacy/

[127] https://www.copyright.com.au/2024/04/copyright-amendments-relating-to-remote-learning/

[128] https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/reconciliation-action-plan/

[129] The Code is available at www.copyright.com.au

[130] There are links to the declaration and guidelines at www.copyright.com.au/governance

[131] https://www.copyrightcodeofconduct.org.au/

[132] https://www.communications.gov.au/documents/review-code-conduct-australian-copyright-collecting-societies