YES. Unless you are directly employed by someone at the time and/or have made a prior agreement, all rights in the music and the recording of that music automatically reside with you upon creation. This includes the publishing. You do not need to register your work, pay any fees or fill in any forms for it to be protected. Copyright protection is automatic, both in Australia and overseas. As soon as you write down your lyrics or music, or record it onto any medium, such as a WAV or MP3 file, CD or tape, it will be protected by copyright. The only requirement is that the work is original (i.e. it is not copied) and the result of some skill or effort on your part.
This is a very important question. Please have a look at our Resources page on Royalties for answers.
Join APRA AMCOS! Royalties are our lifeline. When the fees are low your royalties are often the only thing between you and the poverty line for the emerging composer. They help even out the trough between commissions and will keep the lights on. Regard them as your superannuation! Once you’ve joined, register each musical work you create in the APRA AMCOS Writer Portal, or in the APRA AMCOS Music Creators App, so you can get paid!
A cue sheet is a list of all the music and songs used in a film and television production. APRA AMCOS requires these for every locally produced program broadcast in Australia because they distribute royalties on the public performance (in this case, broadcasting) of the work. Unless you or the producers properly identify all the music used in a production, log this on a cue sheet and submit it to APRA AMCOS you will not be paid your royalties. Make sure that the details of each musical work matches your APRA AMCOS work registrations. More info here.
If you assign part or all of your publishing to a client then they may be entitled to a share of the so-called publisher’s share of the royalties (for more information on royalties visit our Royalties resources page). Some networks or large production companies now have an affiliated publisher collecting on their behalf and may ask for this. While granting your publishing is commonplace in the USA it is not commonplace to assign your publishing in Australia, although it is becoming more so. If a client insists on a share of the publishing it might be wise to satisfy yourself that they can comprehensively exploit the work, especially in territories or via avenues where public performance revenues are highest. For example, free-to-air television attracts much higher royalty rates than streaming services where royalty payouts are vanishingly small. Some countries collect comprehensive and generous royalties negotiated by their performing rights organisation but other countries don’t even have a PRO and so do not collect royalties on your behalf. Try to negotiate to retain a higher proportion of your publishing royalties. If this is not possible, modifying the terms of your license, including a guarantee of future work on subsequent productions in your contract, (known as ‘first right of refusal’) or permitting you to reuse and re-exploit the Master recording are all possible ways to compensate you for the loss of your publishing should the fee remain low. Remember though, that the maximum a publisher can claim is 50% of the overall and in the absence of a contractual agreement, the publishing automatically resides with the composer.
Unlike releasing an album of existing songs or performing a public concert, the act of putting music to pictures requires specific permission from the owner of the music and also the recording. This is called a synchronisation (or sync) license which is simply permission to use the music under certain conditions to be negotiated between you and the client, and is outlined in your music agreement. A license can be granted exclusively, or non-exclusively and can be limited by territories and duration. But where the budget is adequate, it may be given “exclusively, for the universe, and in perpetuity”. Otherwise it is for you to negotiate the terms of the license agreement. It is not necessary for a client to own either the copyright in the music or the master recording to use music.