Australian music licensing costs increase 2000 times
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
According to a story at The Age “CAFE and restaurant patrons could soon be eating in silence, after a proposal by Australia’s largest record labels to increase the cost of background music by up to 2000 times.” … what would have cost $125/yr now costs $19,344, and small cafes have increased from $124 to $5,860. Of course buying a CD doesn’t entitle you to play it in a store as that’s called a Public Performance in Australia and New Zealand. Perhaps this will see more businesses moving to Creative Commons or CC services like Jamendo Pro. With over-inflated costs causing many businesses owners to consider cutting out the playing of background music – and subsequently artists losing out on the promotional benefits of this activity – one might wonder what impact this will have on artists, and perhaps more importantly how much of this increased revenue will actually make it back to the artists…
