Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Pay for Radio Play) Bill 2023

Practical effects and trade-offs to watch for:

• Who pays: removing the caps shifts potential additional payments onto broadcasters and the ABC; for the ABC that amount would effectively be borne by its funding source (the Commonwealth) unless the ABC changes its spending priorities.
• Who decides: the Copyright Tribunal will decide case-by-case without the two numerical ceilings; outcomes will depend on evidence and the Tribunal’s exercise of discretion.
• Behavioural incentives: rights-holders gain bargaining leverage because Tribunal awards are not artificially capped; broadcasters face greater uncertainty about future costs and may seek to renegotiate licence arrangements, change programming, pass costs to advertisers/listeners, or invest less in radio-originated music content.
• Distribution of costs and benefits: benefits (higher royalties) will be concentrated to rights-holders who successfully obtain higher Tribunal awards; costs are diffuse across broadcasters, advertisers, listeners or — for the ABC — taxpayers.
• Market effects: higher expected costs could disadvantage smaller or community stations with tighter margins, potentially affecting competition in the radio sector or accelerating substitution towards streaming.
• Implementation and legal risk: because the Tribunal now has broader discretion, outcomes may vary by case and could generate more litigation, appeals or requests for policy guidance. That increases uncertainty and compliance cost for both sides.