Chapter 7: Copyright

Copyright continues to play an important role in Australia’s creative and cultural industries. Licensing of copyright material is a significant driver of economic returns for artists, musicians, writers and screen industry workers, with over $700 million paid through collecting societies alone in 2022-23. Collaboration across copyright-based industries is a significant driver of value, with Australia’s games industry seeing a 59% increase in revenue in 2021-22, due to increased collaboration between games developers and music workers. Over 70% of Australians consume copyright material online, and around three in five of those that do so use only sources that appear to be lawful.

The contribution of copyright to Australia

Copyright has a central role in content-based industries as a driver of economic value. Collectively, these industries are sometimes referred to as the ‘creative economy’ — a way of recognising the economic value of creativity and innovation underpinned by IP rights.¹

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development Communication and the Arts has estimated that in 2019–2020 ‘cultural and creative activity’ contributed $122.3 billion to the Australian economy (see Figure 5.1).² This was 27.1% higher than in 2010–11, and was equivalent to 6.2% of Australia’s GDP.³ While this research does not specifically relate to the economic value of copyright — for example, it includes some smaller sectors such as zoological and botanical garden operations not directly underpinned by copyright — it illustrates the significant economic impact of copyright-related sectors.

‘Other’ includes museums, libraries and archives, performing arts, environmental heritage, music composition and publishing, visual arts and crafts, cultural goods manufacturing and sales and supporting activities.

** ‘Compensation of employees’ is income received by individuals working in cultural and creative occupations outside industries identified as cultural and creative.

The publication found that industries with the greatest contribution to cultural and creative activity included:

• design ($50.9 billion)
• fashion ($15.1 billion)
• literature and print media ($8.3 billion)
• broadcasting, electronic or digital media and film ($8.1 billion).

Findings from earlier research commissioned by the Australian Copyright Council in 2020 demonstrated that these industries are supported by copyright to some degree.⁴

Other recent research commissioned by Creative Australia sheds further light on the economic impact of the creative economy and specific creative industries sectors. Research based on 2021 census data found that the creative economy provided employment to 714,632 people in Australia. This figure – which includes specialist creatives and support workers in the creative industries, as well as embedded creatives in other industries – equated to 5.9% of the total workforce in Australia, up from 5.5% in 2016.⁵

Looking more closely at a particular copyright-dependent industry, research commissioned by Creative Australia found that in 2021-22 the Australian games industry generated $284.4 million in revenue and employed 2,104 full-time equivalent workers. This was a 59% increase from the previous year, and a 250% increase since 2015.⁶ This growth in value was due to the collaboration between Australian game developers and Australian game music workers who are having global critical and commercial success. It demonstrates the importance of interconnectedness across Australian copyright-dependent industries to generate economic value.

Use of copyright content

In addition, public interest exceptions enable some uses of copyright material without the copyright owner’s permission. Copyright law provides mechanisms by which creators and other copyright owners can maintain control over their work. The system is designed to provide creators with adequate incentives to create and disseminate new content. It also facilitates various uses of copyright material. These include collective licensing arrangements that are voluntary or, in some public interest circumstances, mandatory. Public interest exceptions enable some uses of copyright material without the copyright owner’s permission. 

The value of licensing through collecting societies

A significant portion of the economic contribution attributable to copyright takes the form of direct licensing arrangements between copyright owners and users.

Australia’s copyright arrangements also include collecting societies. These bodies collect fees from licensing arrangements that allow large volumes of copyright material to be put to various uses and distribute the fees to the owners of the creative works.

For users and owners of creative content, negotiating individual licences can be a burdensome and costly process that diminishes their value. Educational institutions, governments and businesses commonly rely on collective licensing to access copyright material and reduce licensing costs.

The annual reports of collecting societies provide insight into the scale at which copyright material is used. In 2022–23:

• $474 million in Australian royalties were paid to music industry rights-holders by the Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, together known as APRA AMCOS;⁷

• $142 million was allocated to more than 36,000 rights-holders, including writers, artists, publishers and agents, by Copyright Agency Limited (CAL). Collective licensing by CAL also indirectly benefits other creative industries workers, such as writers and illustrators working in-house or with contractual entitlements to a share of Copyright Agency payments;⁸

• $48.7 million was distributed to registered artists and licensors by the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA);⁹ 

• Screenrights distributed $40.3 million to its members and saw an increase in its membership to over 5,100 copyright owners in the audio-visual sector – such as producers, writers, directors, broadcasters and agents.¹⁰

Consumption of online copyright content

A large number of Australians consume copyright content online. The Consumer Survey on Online Copyright Infringement (the ‘Consumer Survey’) commissioned by the Attorney‑General’s Department provides insight into consumption. The survey analyses current trends in online copyright content consumption and copyright infringement (discussed below).¹¹

According to the 2022 Consumer Survey, almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents surveyed had consumed some form of online content (music, movies/films, TV programs, video games or live sport) in the past three months. Broadly, the proportion of respondents consuming each content type has increased over time (see Figure 7.2).

Copyright infringement (unlawful access to copyright content)

The 2022 Consumer Survey indicated that the overall proportion of respondents who had consumed some online copyright content unlawfully increased to 39% in 2022, compared to 30% in 2021). However, rates of unlawful consumption increased only marginally or declined for individual content types.

Adjustments to the 2022 Consumer Survey made it more sensitive to emerging methods of unlawful consumption. As such, an increase in overall infringement is likely partly due to the survey’s increased ability to detect infringing behaviours.¹²

Australia’s website blocking scheme

Australia’s website blocking scheme allows copyright owners to apply to the Federal Court of Australia to block an online site that operates outside Australia and infringes copyright material.

Around 2,000 websites have been blocked between 2015 and 2023. Orders issued under the scheme in 2023 predominantly extended existing blocks on websites, rather than blocking new websites.

The 2022 Consumer Survey indicates that the scheme has reduced the extent to which consumers access content through websites that infringe copyright. Around three-quarters of respondents who encountered a website blocked by the scheme reported that they either ‘gave up’ or sought lawful access (see Figure 7.3).