Retail and Service Providers
The Retail and Service Providers scheme has been developed by OneMusic Australia for the retail sector (such as fashion or grocery stores) and service providers (such as medical centres and hairdressers).
This Rate Setting Guide describes how OneMusic Australia sets the rates under the Retail and Service Providers scheme. For more information about how OneMusic Australia fixes rates and determines rate structures more generally, please see the Rate Setting Guide - General Background available HERE.
Licensees under this scheme range from small, single-location premises (for example, a mixed-use corner store) to large, multi-location operators (for example, Target).
This scheme provides coverage for the use of our music in these licensing categories:
- Background Music for Retail
- Background Music in Car Parks
- Featured Music
- Exhibiting Music Videos
- Website Use
- Workplace Music and Telephone on Hold
1. Background Music for Retail
Background Music for Retail is music played that is not given prominence or used as a feature of the retail or service provider’s premises. It includes music contained in television programs and films – for instance, when the programs are played via a television.
Background music has been a feature of APRA’s public performance music licensing since the 1930s and is typically recorded music that is delivered via a sound system at the premises (CDs, Digital Music Services, etc.), but can also be from televisions, radios, and commercial background music suppliers.
Rate Structure:
The rate structure for the use of Background Music for Retail is a flat fee, with the rate depending on:
- the device and/or source of music used; and
- the size of the retail area in m2.
The device or source of music indicates the value of the music to the licensee. The less sophisticated the device or source, such as radio, the lesser assumed value of the use. For instance, it can be assumed that a licensee who chooses radio as the source for its Background Music is indicating less of an interest in the selection of musical works and the value to its business, compared to a licensee who uses a customised or even professionally curated digital playlist.
As a result, there are four (4) options depending on the device and/or source of the music played – Gold, Silver, Silver Lite and Bronze. Bronze, at the lowest rate, is limited to a terrestrial or digital broadcast through TV and/or radio. Gold, at the highest rate, includes additional rights for publicly performing music from a digital music service.
Each of Gold, Silver, Silver Lite and Bronze are further divided into ‘area size’ tiers based on the dimensions of the area where the music is being played. The use of area size acts as a simple approximation of audience size to ensure small businesses do not pay the same amounts as retailers with large spaces. Dividing floor area into 11 tiers also results in a more finely tuned and ‘just’ regime for licensees.[1]
A deduction applies for the Gold, Silver and Silver Lite tiers where either none of our PPCA recordings or none of our songs are used.
Rate:
The current rates applicable to each music category (Gold, Silver, Silver Lite and Bronze) were fixed by OneMusic Australia as follows:
- starting with the rate for the use of APRA musical works as background music prior to the introduction of OneMusic Australia, which was the rate determined by the Copyright Tribunal in 2006 (adjusted for CPI)[2] (Legacy APRA Rate);
- starting with the rates applied by the PPCA for the use of PPCA sound recordings as background music in retail and service providers settings prior to the introduction of a single licence under OneMusic Australia (Legacy PPCA Rate); and
- making an adjustment to the Legacy PPCA Rate to:
- provide parity in the rates between PPCA and APRA;
- align the bands of Retail Areas upon which the rates were to be applied (as PPCA and APRA AMCOS previously used different size bands for the customer areas);
- include reproduction rights; and
- following consultation with industry stakeholders, to introduce more size tiers in the rate structure to provide lower rates for smaller premises.
Background Music for Retail has been specifically developed to also allow licensees to choose a tier that includes a licence to copy music or to stream it from a digital music service. The rate applicable to the Gold tier is simply the Silver tier with the rate for Digital Copy/Delivery included. More information about the rate and rate structure for Digital Copy/Delivery is available HERE.
2. Background Music in Car Parks
Before joint licensing by OneMusic Australia, background music used in car parks was licensed by both APRA AMCOS and PPCA in the same way and at the same rates as background music inside the premises. After consulting with industry stakeholders, OneMusic Australia considered that the effective rate for car parks under the Retail and Service Providers scheme should be lower than the rate applicable within a premises, given that car parks typically have less foot traffic and are a more transient space than the retail floor.
Rate Structure:
The rate structure for the use of background music in retailers’ or service providers’ car parks in the Retail and Service Providers scheme is a flat fee, regardless of car park size.
A flat fee that is able to be ‘added on’ to a Background Music for Retail licence is more administratively simple than a rate based on the size of car parks, which would require more detailed reporting.
Rate:
The rate was fixed by OneMusic Australia as a more than 50% discount on the Gold tier for Background Music for Retail, with a presumed car park size of between 500m2 and 1,000m2.
3. Featured Music
Under the Retail and Service Providers scheme, the Featured Music licence category is for live or recorded music that is given prominence as a feature (for example, where music is advertised as an event taking place at the premises or has been compiled with a particular theme), excluding high value live or recorded music performances (that is, it only covers featured music performances where the entry fee is $40 or below or where the artists have been paid $4,000 or less). This music use category has been designed to provide retailers and service providers with an easy way to include featured music (usually live music) at their premises if they wish to do so.
While Featured Music is considered of higher value than background music when assessed against our Music Value Hierarchy, OneMusic Australia appreciates that a performance in a retail or service provider setting is not like one that occurs at a concert or in a hotel or bar. That is, while the music use is of a high value, it is not necessarily a direct driver of revenue (entry fees are rarely imposed). For more information about the Music Value Hierarchy please see the Rate Setting Guide - General Background available HERE.
Rate Structure:
The Featured Music rate is a fixed amount for each day Featured Music is performed at the business, with two price tiers depending on premises size. A daily set fee was considered as the most appropriate rate structure given that there is unlikely to be a box office (entry will typically be free), reporting of attendance numbers would be difficult to monitor, and it would be difficult to impose reporting obligations on licensees.
OneMusic Australia developed set daily amounts for the Retail and Service Providers scheme in two size tiers, as it is presumed that smaller premises will involve fewer listeners to a performance than a larger space.
The fixed rate for Featured Music is able to be ‘added on’ to a Background Music for Retail licence.
A deduction applies, on a day-by-day basis, where either none of our PPCA recordings or none of our songs are used.
Rate:
The daily amounts were fixed by OneMusic Australia as follows:
- starting with the rate for the use of recorded or live music performances in other sectors (for instance, Featured Recorded Music under the Hotels, Pubs, Taverns, Bars and Casinos scheme);
- by discounting the rate applicable to performances of recorded or live music in environments where the music is higher up the Music Value Hierarchy, such as hotels and bars; and
- by making a reasonable estimate for each floor size tier as to how many listeners may be present on the days when Featured Music is performed.
4. Exhibiting Music Videos
OneMusic Australia included the Exhibiting Music Videos licence category into the Retail and Service Providers scheme to enable the retail and service provider sector to easily license the use of commercial music videos on screens as a means of Background Music at their premises. Such use is an exercise of an additional right formerly licensed by PPCA, being the right to cause the visual element of Music Videos to be seen in public. The fee is applied on a separate ‘user pays’ basis because it is considered to be a high value use of music but not required by the great majority of customers.
Rate Structure:
The fixed rate for Exhibiting Music Videos is able to be ‘added on’ to a Background Music for Retail licence, with the rate structure tiered according to a size threshold as a larger space will likely involve a larger potential audience.
Given the relatively limited use of music video screens in the retail and service provider sector, OneMusic Australia considered a flat fee was less burdensome for licensees than the former model for this sector, which required declaring the sizes and numbers of screens.
Rate:
The daily amounts were fixed by OneMusic Australia as follows:
- starting with the rate previously fixed by PPCA for the use of music videos in the retail and service sector (PPCA MV Rates);
- by making a conservative estimate as to the size and quantity of screens typically used in the retail and service sector (being 1 small screen); and
- by re-valuing the PPCA MV Rates to accommodate bands of retail area size to provide consistency with other licence categories in the scheme (noting that, as a result, for premises with areas under 2,000sqm being assessed at a more than 50% reduction in the PPCA MV Rates applicable to 1 small screen).
5. Website Use
The use of OneMusic Australia’s music as background streams on websites is a licensing category that appears in a number of OneMusic Australia’s schemes, including the Retail and Service Providers scheme.
More information about the rate and rate structure for Website Use is available HERE.
6. Workplace Music and Telephone on Hold
The Workplace Music and Telephone on Hold licence category under the Retail and Service Providers scheme involves the same rates and rate structure as under the Workplace Music and Telephone on Hold scheme.
[1] Reference by Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd [2006] ACopyT 3 at 201.
[2] Reference by Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd [2006] ACopyT 3 at 27.