OneMusic New Zealand Event Licences Consultation and proposed Licensing Scheme September 17, 2026

Our licensing partner OneMusic (part of APRA AMCOS NZ) has today launched the OneMusic New Zealand Event Licences consultation.

The consultation proposes a unified & streamlined approach to music licensing at events by introducing a combined licence scheme for musical works (represented by APRA) and sound recordings (represented by Recorded Music NZ) from 1 May 2027.

The use of sound recordings at events is an important part of the live event experience - whether it's creating atmosphere before your favourite act takes the stage, playing in the background at a food festival, or as part of the main attraction where a headline DJ plays sound recordings on-stage.

There is no question that public performance of sound recordings requires a licence or that recording artists and rights holders deserve to be paid fairly when their recordings are used. However, there has not historically been a consistent approach to licensing sound recordings across the live event sector.

The proposed licensing scheme set out in the OneMusic New Zealand Event Licences consultation seeks to address this.

The proposal reflects already well-established APRA NZ licence fee rates and, in respect of the inclusion of sound recordings, closely follows the approach and rates set out in the joint OneMusic scheme already in place in Australia, which was shaped following significant consultation with the live sector (including many of the same large promoters that operate in New Zealand).

The Consultation Paper is published on the OneMusic website and the consultation is open until 30 October 2026. The deadline to request an in-person meeting is 9th October. The consultation process is being run by OneMusic. All input, including in respect of sound recordings, should be provided directly to OneMusic using the contact details set out in the Consultation Paper i.e. nzconsultation@onemusicnz.com.

Recorded Music NZ will of course be providing input to the consultation where appropriate.

Feedback is encouraged from concert, event, and festival promoters, event producers, venue operators, and anyone running events in Aotearoa New Zealand that use music.