EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
No. 293, 1983
COPYRIGHT REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
These Regulations raise the statutory rate of royalty payable under the Copyright Act 1968 (“the Act”) by manufacturers of sound recordings of copyright works to the owners of copyright in the works recorded.
Authority
Section 249 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing (inter alia) all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed.
Legislative Framework
Copyright in a musical work includes an exclusive right to reproduce the work in a material form, including the making of a sound recording of the work. However, this right is qualified by section 55 of the Act which provides that manufacturers may, under certain conditions, make recordings of musical works without the permission of the copyright owner, subject to payment of a royalty.
Section 56 sets an initial royalty rate, which is 5% of the retail selling price of the record. There is provision for revision of this rate, however. Under sub-section 58(1), the Attorney-General may request the Copyright Tribunal to conduct an inquiry into the equity of the initial rate (or any rate set subsequently in accordance with the provision) and make a report to him on the matter. Sub-section 58(2) provides that at any time after the Copyright Tribunal has made such a report, the regulations may provide that the royalty rate set by section 56 in its application in respect of records generally (or in a particular class) shall have effect as if it were subject to such variations as are provided by the regulations, being such variations as the Governor-General thinks equitable. Under sub-section 58(3), before making regulations for the purposes of sub-section 58(2) the Governor-General is required to take into account the report of the Copyright Tribunal.
Copyright Tribunal’s Inquiry
Pursuant to a request made under section 58 on 30 December 1977 by the then Attorney-General, the Copyright Tribunal conducted an inquiry into the royalty payable in respect of records generally.
The Tribunal made its report in December 1979, concluding, inter alia, that the royalty under sub-section 56(1) was not equitable and should be raised from 5% to 6.75% of the retail selling price of records net of sales tax. The report was tabled in Parliament in May 1980.
New Regulations
The new Regulations vary the record manufacture royalty rate as follows:
(1) immediately, to 6% of the retail selling price of records; and
(2) from 1 October 1984, to 6.25%.
These rates accord with the wishes of the great majority of composers of musical works recorded on records manufactured in Australia and are acceptable to the great majority of Australian record manufacturers, who have advised that they have been paying the 6% rate for some time.