APRA AMCOS - the Australian mechanical copyright and public performance collection society -  has agreed a deal with Facebook whereby the songwriters, composers and music publishers that APRA AMCOS represents (including international songwriters) will be paid for the use of their music on Facebook, Instagram, Oculus and Messenger.

Good news for the publishing community and a giant step forward in educating the public at large in recognising the countless unsung hours that go into writing great songs.  

Monetary details, monitoring terms and just how this works in practice, yet to be confirmed!

Spotify has officially denounced its new "hateful conduct" policy less than a month after announcing that it would ban artists from its first party playlists on the grounds of hateful conduct.

R Kelly and rapper XXXTentacion were allegedly among the artists removed from its major playlists due to allegations of serious misconduct in their public lives.

Needless to say this subjective ruling did not go down too well with an industry dominated by streaming (Spotify being one of the dominant players) and where artists behaviour has always pushed the boundaries and headlines!

Spotify continues, and rightly so, to remove music that contains content inciting hatred or violence against people of any race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.