Foreign Publishing Agreement Information

APRA royalties for unpublished works are paid 100% to the original copyright owners (i.e. songwriters/composers or arrangers of traditional works). If unpublished works generate foreign royalties, APRA will expect to receive 100% of the royalties on your behalf from the remitting foreign Performing Right Organisation (PRO).

When you sign a music publishing agreement, you will give permission for the publisher to collect a share of the royalties for the works subject to the agreement. If your publishing agreement covers foreign territories, APRA will expect to receive on your behalf only the writer share – usually 50% - of the royalties generated from those territories.

It is therefore essential to advise APRA|AMCOS of your foreign publishing agreements, so we can monitor your foreign royalties and follow up any underpayments with the relevant foreign PRO.

For further information on Music Publishers please click here.

If you have signed a publishing agreement with a foreign publisher, please click here »

* denotes required field

May be length of time, indefinite or Life of Copyright

Please specify if General Catalogue or Specific Works (A General Catalogue agreement includes all of your works; Specific works agreements only include some of your works.)

  • General Catalogue
  • Specific Works

Which PRO is collecting your US royalties?

e.g. World, USA only, or a group of specific territories

Please select the different right types you have assigned to the publisher.

This percentage split refers to the income paid by performing and mechanical right societies such as APRA|AMCOS, and is not necessarily the same as the percentage of royalties to be paid by the publisher to the writer under the terms of the agreement.

If not specified, the division of royalties will be 50% writer and 50% publisher for performing rights and 100% publisher for mechanical, synchronisation, print and cover rights.

  • Performing
  • Mechanical
  • Synchronisation
  • Print
  • Cover

May be a length of time, indefinite or Life of Copyright

If you have any queries or need more information please contact your local Writer Services Representative.

If you have signed an agreement with a record company click here»

Did you know that a record company/label is different to a music publisher?

There are several copyrights in recorded music. Copyright subsists in the sound recording (master) and separately in the underlying musical work (i.e. melody and lyrics).

The copyright in the sound recording is generally owned by whoever paid for the recording; this is usually a record company/label. Royalties for the public performance and communication of sound recordings are collected by the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia: PPCA. Royalties for the reproduction of sound recordings are collected either by record companies/labels or for some specific limited purposes by the Australian Record Industry Association: ARIA.

The copyright in the musical work is generally owned by the creator of unpublished works (i.e. the songwriter or composer/author) or by the music publisher of published works. Royalties for the public performance and communication of musical works are collected by APRA. Royalties for the reproduction of musical works are collected by either music publishers, songwriters or by AMCOS.

Your APRA|AMCOS work registrations advise APRA|AMCOS of the musical work copyright owners. Therefore, you should not credit record companies/labels when registering your musical works with APRA|AMCOS.

If you have any queries or need more information please contact your local Writer Services Representative.