AMPAL: The year Ahead

by Mark Callaghan
General Manager, AMPAL

Having recently taken over from Nick Hampton as General Manager of the Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL), I though it might be a good idea to outline what we’ll be up to over the next 12 months.

Where we've come from
To give AMPAL some historical perspective, the Association was formed by seven music publishers back in 1956. With the rise of television and the burgeoning export of Australian music, it was felt that music publishers needed to come together and create mechanisms to reflect the changing face of the business. One of the outcomes was the creation of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) to facilitate the collection of mechanical royalties. In 2004 the continued evolution of the music publishing business lead to a redefinition of the role of AMPAL - the Association disengaged itself from AMCOS and focused on it’s original mandate as the trade organization for music publishers.

Where we're headed
As the peak body representing music publishers AMPAL aims to:

  • Promote a better understanding of the value of music (and the copyrights in music);
  • Promote and protect the economic rights of creators and administrators of copyright in music and those who administer the copyright;
  • Provide opportunities for the role of music publishers to be better understood;
  • Represent the interests of music publishers to government, the music industry and the public;
  • Work with other members of the music industry to increase the creation, use and enjoyment of music across Australia and New Zealand.

These aims are best achieved through three main activities; namely lobbying, promotion and education and these will be the main focus of AMPAL activities over the coming year.

Lobbying
On the lobbying front, we’ll be working with the Contemporary Music Working Group (CMWG), a coalition of music industry bodies liaising with the federal government on industry issues. The CMWG is currently finalising a submission aimed at securing an ‘Industry Action Agenda’ for the entire Australian music industry. Securing an Industry Action Agenda (IAA) will be a vital step forward for all sectors of the music industry as it’s a process whereby the federal government, working with the industry, examines the issues facing us and seeks to address them through a comprehensive review of policy settings. It’s big picture stuff and covers everything from existing legislation to export support. Many other industries have benefited from the IAA process and I’ll be working hard with my CMWG colleagues in attempting to secure one for the music industry.

Another thing on the AMPAL agenda is the collection of industry financial data. Knowing the financial size of our industry is absolutely vital when dealing with government, so I’d ask all of you to please take the time to fill in the (completely confidential) financial survey that I’ll be sending out shortly. Accurate numbers will also assist AMPAL in liaising with Austrade, the federal government’s export body. We’ve been working with Austrade for some time now to help facilitate export support for music publishers, especially those attending overseas trade fairs.

And finally on the lobbying front, we’ll also be seeking federal and state government support for the full implementation of the findings of the recent National Review Of School Music Education, which we believe will be of great benefit, not only to music publishers but to the entire Australian community.

Promotion
On the promotional front we’ll be continuing to highlight the great work of music publishers through our ongoing series of articles in the music press. We’re always on the lookout for stories so if you think you have something of interest please let me know and we’ll follow it up. On the other hand there might be a topic you’d like to see covered – once again just let me now.

Education
On the education front we’ll be getting out to education institutions around the country to highlight the role of music publishers, AMPAL and, most importantly, the financial and cultural value of copyright. In an age where the economic value of music continues to be undermined, we’ll be doing all we can to educate the next generation of music users on the importance of copyright. And for our publisher members, we’ll also be continuing our very popular AMPAL workshops.

Having only just taken on this role there’s certainly plenty to do and I look forward to a busy year ahead. It’s a challenging time for our industry and I hope that AMPAL will have a significant role to play, not only in representing the views of members but also in providing a forum where issues facing music publishers can be discussed.

In closing I’d like to thank all AMPAL members for their continued support and invite any publishers who are not yet members to join! Please feel free to contact me (mark@ampal.com.au) at any time.