Distribution Methodology
DISTRIBUTION OF REVENUE TO PUBLISHERS AND SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS
The Print Media Copyright Agency allows anyone wanting to legally make copies of cuttings from print media publications for internal management and certain ancillary purposes to obtain a licence to do so as simply as possible.
A PMCA licence permits organisations to copy articles from New Zealand’s daily newspapers and many additional publications.
Statutory framework
The statutory framework for the PMCA is the Copyright Act 1994 (as amended), which embodies the principle that copyright is a property right subsisting in, among other things, original literary or artistic works and the typographical arrangement of published editions.
Licence revenue to newspapers
Revenue to each Publisher is calculated on the ratio of copying of cuttings from that Publisher’s publications in comparison with copying from other publications, except in the case that licence fees charged can be directly attributed to a particular publication.
Special contributors
The PMCA recognises that some material in its publications is the work of freelance contributors who may or may not have assigned copying rights to the Publisher. Contributors who retain this right are Special Contributors and the PMCA’s Distribution Scheme aims to identify these and the proportions of the licence fees due to each. The totals of these proportions are the Publishers’ “Dilution factors” (see below).
Surveys
To determine the proportion of the revenue attributable to Special Contributors by title, the PMCA commissions independent surveys annually or every other year.
Categorisation by Publishers
Each survey relates to the output of one or more of the larger press-cuttings agencies or specific end users over a period of, typically, a week for daily newspapers or three weeks for Sunday or weekly newspapers. Works copied are categorised by publisher and categorisation is verified by the surveyor, entailing production, if required by the surveyor, of evidence of contract. The surveyor is the final arbiter as to categorisation.
Dilution factors
Following categorisation the surveyor certifies the proportion of copies of which the publisher has not obtained the rights assigned to the PMCA. This proportion is the “dilution factor”.
Payment to special contributors
Shortly after the end of each calendar year each publisher is notified of the dilution factors for that year and distributes the appropriate revenue to its Special Contributors (subject to a minimum of $100, anything less being carried forward as a credit for a special contributor rather than actually being paid).
Smaller circulation titles
Any publisher who receives less than $20,000 (net of the PMCA’s commission and GST for any given title) may elect not to participate in the next survey; in that case the publisher will be given a notional dilution factor for that title, representing the average of the dilution factors for all titles included in the next survey.
Indemnification of the PMCA
Each sponsoring Publisher indemnifies the PMCA against any claim that may be made against any licensee of the PMCA or the PMCA itself by anyone asserting that he is a Special Contributor.
Frequency of surveys
The PMCA will decide and notify publishers by not later than 31 March in each year whether, if there was a survey the previous year, there is to be a survey in the year of the decision.
Modifications
The distribution scheme as described in this document may be modified by the PMCA from time to time at its discretion but subject always to the modification not being unreasonably prejudicial to the interests of sponsoring publishers or Special Contributors.
Inception
The distribution scheme is deemed to have taken effect on 1 January 2003 in accordance with its terms.
Attribution of revenue to Publishers
The basic principle is that for each Publisher they should receive the share of revenue most closely reflecting, on the basis of information available to the PMCA, the copying by licensees of cuttings from the Publishers publications in comparison with copying from other publications.
1. There are special arrangements for press cuttings agencies (“PCAs”), as follows:-
(a) PCAs make monthly returns to the PMCA of the number of copies made from each PMCA Publisher, so that the “per copy” charge revenue received from PCAs can be attributed between Publishers and passed on accordingly.
(b) A PCA monthly return reports the number of copies made from each Publisher in question.
2. All other (non PCA) licensees pay a fee based on number of personnel.
3. The per-copy revenue is divided between the Publishers whose publications are shown to have been copied.
4. At the end of each quarter, the basic fees are divided between the newspapers covered by the basic licence according to the proportions in which they were copied systematically PCAs over the quarter in question and the previous three quarters.
5. Under the NZ Publisher agreements with the PMCA, each Publisher acts as the PMCA’s sub-distributor in delivering to the Special Contributors a proportion of its revenues for the copying of their works in the ratio of the numbers of their works published in its relevant title during the year.
6. All distributions by the PMCA are subject to the standard 30 per cent commission to cover the PMCA’s administrative expenses.
7. The PMCA issues quarterly statements of revenue received since the previous distribution. Publishers then submit GST invoices to the PMCA, which are paid within 30 days of receipt.
For more information, please contact the PMCA.