Who needs a licence now?
If your venue plays music on a day to day basis/when they don’t have a function on, ie a club, that has back ground music playing they should already have the licence.
This could be included in their packages prices meaning they will purchase on your behalf or it could be something that you need to source on your own, so best to ask your particular venue.
What about a private residence or a “non typical” venue? If it is a private residence then you are exempt from requiring a license BUT if you have paid any money for the hire of the venue (things like holiday rentals/ air BNB etc) then you will need to get a single use licence for your wedding.
What does this mean?
As the venue owner/operator you may be liable for authorising copyright infringement if any pirated music is played on your premises.
This can include iPods that are loaded with illegally downloaded music.
As the venue operator, it is also your responsibility to obtain public performance licences from APRA and PPCA (or the relevant copyright owner).
What happens if I don’t have one?
As an individual/host of the event you at looking at fines up to $60,500 and up to 5 years imprisonment can be given for each offence.
For companies the fines are up to 5 times as much.
Police can also issue an on-the-spot fine of $1320 and seize illegitimate music product.
