2019 - 2020 Year in Review

Pru Montin at Screen SongsHubs LA Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Photo: Courtney McAllister Photo: Daniel Boud Rochelle Pitt at Share the Spirit Photo: Jacinta Keefe 2019 - 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW Kimbra Photo: Nick Demarais 1 Message from the Chief Executive, Dean Ormston Bujari gamarruwa and kia ora I’d like to begin my message by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I am writing from today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to Elders past and present. This financial year will be remembered by all of us for natural disasters including catastrophic bushfires and floods across Australia, a volcanic eruption in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and now COVID-19. The pain and suffering experienced by so many of our members and licensees over the past 12 months has been far-reaching and terrible. Musicians and the music industry are always amongst the first to lend a hand to support, lift spirits and raise funds to rebuild community. The COVID-19 context has turned the tables and musicians have needed to put a call out for the support of governments and others. Individual and collective resilience has been tested. We’ve all had to cope with dramatic and unpredictable disruption and change. We’ve had to adapt quickly. Our priority over the past 12 months has been to support both our 108,000+ members and 114,000+ licensees. As the bushfires devastated enormous areas of Australia, and then COVID-19 spread across the globe, we moved quickly to provide direct support and advocate to government the plight of those that live and work in the original gig economy. The APRA AMCOS team is committed, tightly-knit and unwaveringly loyal to servicing the best interests of our members. Unfortunately we have had to make difficult operational decisions in recognising the considerable forward impacts of COVID-19, resulting in more than 70 staff leaving the business. Dean Ormston, APRA AMCOS CEO Watch the highlights 2 I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to all our staff working across Australia and New Zealand and our representatives in London, Los Angeles and Nashville, who have gone above and beyond to keep up business as usual, and all of them working remotely since March 2020. Our business has held up well, primarily due to the diversity of our licensing business, the rapidly increasing value of our multi-territory digital licensing business, the continued strength of the digital and video-on-demand business domestically, and the extraordinary strength of Australian and New Zealand members earnings internationally, with an all-time record revenue result of $54.4m. The bushfires and COVID-19 had a material impact on APRA AMCOS Group Revenue at $474.5m, up 0.6% on our 2019 result but down $14.4m on our budgeted figure of $488.9m. Despite lower revenue, we managed to achieve our budgeted expense to revenue ratio of 14.16%. Our Year in Review includes many highlights but of special note; we launched OneMusic Australia 1 July 2019, and despite bushfires and COVID-19 the take-up and feedback on the service has been overwhelmingly positive; APRA AMCOS lead substantial industry wide advocacy in Australia and New Zealand in support of our members and the wider industry, culminating in both governments recognising the value of the music sector and providing substantial COVID-19 related support packages; the APRA Board established a Sustainability Fund in support of writer members in both Australia and New Zealand; we celebrated the fast growing success of our members locally and globally in new ways; and most importantly, we moved decisively to support the development and self-determination of our First Nations members in Australia and New Zealand. It is the breadth and diversity of our membership and industry that creates community, strength and opportunity for all. We look forward to contributing to the rebuild of a better, stronger, sustainable music industry. APRA AMCOS APRA AMCOS APRA AMCOS Group Net Distributable expense to Revenue Revenue revenue ratio $474.5m $407.3m 14.16% up 0.6% down 0.9% 3 Spotlight on International Revenue $54.4m up from $47.3m last year, an increase of 15.0% • A major first: we received more than AUD$10m from ASCAP, the highest annual amount to date from a reciprocal society. • The on-going success of our members on a global scale played a big role: Tones And I ‘Dance Monkey,’ Jawsh 685 for Jason DeRulo’s ‘Savage Love,’ Joel Little for Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need to Calm Down’. • The impact of the pandemic was not reflected in our international revenue for this last financial year - the cessation of live music and of other businesses using music will be evident in FY 20-21. Live and public performance Television remains the accounts for 25.1% top category, accounting for 32.3% Analysis by category Radio accounts for 17.7% SignificantDigital increase, now 24.9% of international royalties; overtakes Radio royalties for the first time 4 Revenue breakdown Our diversified revenue portfolio helped weather the COVID-19 storm • Another year of strong Digital growth ○ Accounting for nearly half of overall revenue, the global pandemic didn’t affect digital revenue. Music streaming, video-on-demand and website revenue increased significantly. ○ Our multi territory digital licensing hub saw phenomenal growth in the Asian market. In FY20 we processed more than one trillion music uses, ensuring our rights holders are being paid accurately for the use of their works on digital services across the region. • Public Performance revenue includes OneMusic licence fees from retail, hospitality, fitness, live music and events, cinemas, nightclubs, airlines and more industries affected by Australian bushfires and COVID-19 ○ OneMusic Australia launched on 1 July 2019 and proved there was strong demand for the single music licence process. The take-up rate from existing licensees for the new OneMusic licences was exceptional, and the popularity of taking out a licence online exceeded expectation. We were ahead of our target until COVID-19 hit. ○ Between bushfires in Australia, and COVID-19 lock down in both Australia and New Zealand, the disruption was felt most by the live music sector, nightclubs, cinema and airlines but broadly across most industries licensed by OneMusic. We provided licence fee relief where businesses were forced to close for a period. This resulted in a significant decline in public performance revenue this year. • Broadcast (Television and Radio) revenue was also impacted by the pandemic ○ As broadcasters’ advertising revenue affects the licence fees we collect, our revenue from this sector also declined. • Education and Recordings revenue streams remained stable this year. Business locations licensed across Australia & New Zealand 114,112 5 FY20 vs FY19 Digital $206.0m 43.4% $175.4m Public Performance $73.0m 15.4% $92.4m Television 15.3% $72.8m $81.1m Radio 8.5% $40.2m $45.7m International $54.4m 11.5% $47.3m Education $15.4m 3.2% $14.2m Recordings $10.7m 2.3% $10.7m Other 0.4% $2.0m $5m 6 APRA members AMCOS members Aboriginal & Torres Strait 108,092 22,224 Islander members 1,704 4.3% increase 8.2% increase 7.8% increase Members who earned ...royalties in ...royalties in ...international Australia New Zealand royalties 48,578 18,733 21,709 8.2% increase 14.5% increase 29.8% increase 7 Support during bushfires and COVID-19 At the start of the year, the music industry rallied to help those devastated by the bushfires by doing what they do best - play music to help raise funds and raise spirits. We took measures to help ease the impact and maximise the fundraising: • Extensive gig guide on APRA AMCOS website to promote events in Australia and overseas • Gig guide Facebook post was the most popular of FY20 • Disaster assistance for bushfire affected licensees • Complimentary licences were made available upon request for fundraising events • APRA Board approved funding to establish Live and Local programs in fire affected areas to restart live music in regional areas When the COVID-19 global pandemic required swift and decisive shutdowns and cancellations, the impact was detrimental to our members and industry, especially to those in the live sector. Decisive action to support members and keep the royalties flowing was called for and is ongoing into the 2020-21 financial year: • Live Performance royalties were paid early in May, based on previous year’s Performance Reports data • No gigs? Not quite. Live Stream Performance reports for AU/NZ Facebook, Instagram and YouTube live streams could be submitted for March - December 2020 • The At Home Sessions - creative and professional webinars, APRA NZ Masterclasses, Meet the Locals mentoring and 3-2-1 songwriting collabs were offered free and virtually for all members • Sustainability Fund put $650,000 into the pockets of members: ○ 2,470 applicants; 325 songwriter and composer members received the one- time $2,000 grant (225 granted in FY20; 100 in FY21) ○ An initiative of the APRA Board, led by Chair Jenny Morris ○ Funds came from donation of Board Directors’ fees, APRA AMCOS Cultural Fund and a generous donation from Google.org Charitable Giving Fund • MusicHelps Live (NZ’s music charity based at APRA AMCOS in Auckland) raised over $800,000 (NZD) and distributed to writers, artists, music industry workers, venues and live music businesses across NZ Cry Club Photo: Belinda Dipalo 8 Business Insights Tools and Service Delivery: a priority Our 2019 member and industry survey feedback showed that technology and data were key areas of service needing improvement. We’re focused on providing songwriter, composer and publisher members with greater detail and readily accessible insights, data and analytics around how songs earn royalties.

Load more