APRA AMCOS has reported a record $787.9 million in group revenue for the 2024–25 financial year, up 6.5 percent from the previous year. The results mark the organisation’s highest earnings to date, but also reveal an “alarming” decline in Australian consumption of local music.

APRA Chair Jenny Morris and APRA AMCOS CEO, Dean Ormston. Photo supplied

Net distributable revenue, or royalties paid to rights holders, rose 7.8 percent to $683.4 million in the 2024–25 financial year. Digital streaming accounted for 51.3 percent of APRA AMCOS’s total revenue. This is nearly double its contributions in 2020, with growth in video subscription services such as Netflix as the biggest revenue source.

International revenue for Australian and New Zealand creators reached $98.8 million, up 14.8 percent from the previous year and OneMusic, the group’s public performance licencing arm, saw its revenue grow to $133.9 million, led by concerts and large events. The launch of a new e-commerce platform helped streamline licencing, allowing more efficient royalty collection and faster payouts.

Though CEO Dean Ormiston notes that Australians and New Zealanders ”consume more music per capita than almost anywhere else on the planet”, APRA AMCOS have also reported a steep drop in the consumption of local musical content.

The percentage of Australian music listened to on streaming platforms has fallen 31 percent over the past five years to just 9.5 percent in 2024–25.

On user-generated content platforms, local representation fell 25.4 percent over three years.

“This isn’t happening because our music isn’t good enough, and our surging export revenues prove our artists are among the best in the world. Our platforms are borderless, but algorithms favour scale and international repertoire dominates by default,” said Ormiston.

“We must continue to bang the drum as loud as we can for our members and advocate for their rights, from campaigning for live music tax offsets… to being crystal clear with policymakers: we will not accept any weakening of the Copyright Act when it comes to AI, and we will fight relentlessly for transparency, consent and fair remuneration when our members’ intellectual property is used.”

APRA AMCOS has a membership base of over 1280,000, comprising songwriters, composers and music publishers. In the 2024–25 financial year, it offered over 250 creative programs to more than 10,000 attendees, as well as 85 awards, grants and prizes.

It has also announced the establishment of a brand new department: Alyelhentye Nawu, aimed at protecting and advocating for the intellectual property rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians.

“​​Alyelhentye Nawu [is] a groundbreaking initiative that safeguards Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property rights and affirms that music is more than art; it is a living, self-determined expression of identity, heritage and sovereignty. Alyelhentye Nawu, meaning ‘song’ in both Arrernte and Kala Lagaw Ya, is a bold step forward in building a multilingual, culturally rich music industry that respects and remunerates our creators,” said NATSIMO Director Leah Flanagan.

APRA AMCOS’s full 24–25 Year in Review report can be found here.