Statutory licences in the digital environment

231. Some of the specific statutory licensing schemes in the Copyright Act have been discussed above. The ALRC is also interested in the value and operation of statutory licences in the digital environment more broadly. New digital technology and the internet may offer opportunities to improve the operation of these schemes, making them more efficient, and enabling them to facilitate the wide use of copyright material and the fair remuneration of creators and other rights holders.

232. For example, the internet may facilitate micro-licensing—bridging the gap between rights holders and users and lowering the transaction costs that have made direct contracting prohibitively expensive in the past. Collecting societies may have an important role in facilitating micro-licensing, for example by acting as a rights clearinghouse, or by publishing information about the works for which they collect fees.

233. The ALRC seeks submissions on whether the statutory licensing schemes in the Copyright Act are adequate and appropriate in the digital environment, and on how these schemes might be improved. For example, are new statutory licensing schemes called for, or should some of the existing ones be consolidated?