The Australian copyright tribunal has decided that the royalty paid by nightclubs for their use of music should increase 1,400% - from A$0.20 to A$3.07 or £0.09 to £1.43 per person in a club.

If a similar decision were made in the UK, would it be good or bad for UK dance as a whole?

Clubs obviously will not be impressed, and promoters even less impressed if the charge is passed straight through. In UK clubs, promoters typically keep the door charge and the club keeps the alcohol revenue - the more reliable and profitable cash. From the door charge, promoters pay marketing, DJ fees, staff costs, and hire; unless the promoter is running an enormous and well-attended club, margins are tight.

It's not clear that the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) understands that breakdown, either. Comments like "This is a modest increase when considering nightclub operators typically charge $10.00 per person for admission, $5.00 for a drink, $2.80 for a bottle of water and $2.00 to hang up a coat" suggest they believe that clubs only ever do in-house promotion - a serious misjudgement of the margins of the club market.

Either way, if this decision is copied in the UK, would the extra royalties go to the indie dance acts and labels that provide nightclubs with music (rather than being swallowed by the major labels who provide bad R&B)? It's a tribute to the consistency of the MCPS-PRS's treatment of dance labels that you won't find any small label who is easily convinced of that.

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