Aussie Musos Have More Than Doubled Their Streaming Profits In The Past Year

An increase in revenue from music streaming has helped Australian songwriters, composers and publishers to clock a record $333 million in revenue for the 2015-2016 financial year.

APRA AMCOS, the body which helps Aussie musos get paid for their work, has released its annual report, showing that total revenue rose 11 per cent from last year, with much of that growth owed to the digital sphere, and streaming in particular.

While an 11 per cent growth in the overall revenue is impressive, it’s the money made from streaming that stands out, with APRA AMCOS recording a growth of 140 per cent in revenue from streaming from the previous year.

Streaming has now helped the digital sphere to overtake radio as the industry’s biggest revenue raiser, with revenue from radio licensing totalling $45.3 while digital totals exceed $65 million.

That said, radio revenues are still increasing, it’s just streaming is increasing at a rapid rate by comparison.

According to APRA AMCOS, the rise in streaming revenue can be owed to the increasing rate of subscribers to platforms and the entry of new players like Apple Music, which launched in Australia in June 2015.

The report also showed that Aussies are continuing to kill it overseas. In the past 12 months, Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett, Troye Sivan and Flume (among many more) have all had huge success overseas, playing some of the biggest festivals in the world. Over the past three years export revenue has grown by 75 per cent, to exceed $38 million.

It was revealed today that the future of Sounds Australia — a joint initiative from Australia Council and APRA AMCOS, helping Aussies make waves overseas — is under threat, with the Federal Government flirting with the idea of axing its funding.

APRA AMCOS CEO Brett Cottle has taken the opportunity to tell Government, “Treat music as a commercial art form worthy of support or investment at a level that is reasonable and proportionate to other creative art forms.”

“It’s long past time that governments and their advisors woke up and listened to the music.”

In case you were wondering, Sia’s The Greatest is sitting atop the Aussie streaming charts this week, with Illy following closely behind with Papercuts.

Watch: Sia – ‘The Greatest’

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