Reprographic Royalties

Reprographic royalties are monies earned from the photocopying of manuscripts, songbooks and lyric sheets. They are collected in various countries around the world and at the moment the right is not recognised in the UK.

The Ivors Academy has relationships with agencies that collect these royalties in other countries, in respect of the UK songwriters and composers who have an interest in the works being photocopied.

So far we have received royalty payments from:

• Kopinor: Norway
• Copydan: Denmark
• Bonus Copyright: Sweden
• Kopiosto: Finland

Royalties with data enabling distribution of payment to writers/estates

The Academy receives two types of payment, the first are royalties which are received with data that enables onward distribution of royalties directly to writers or their estates. These royalties are received from CopyDan in Denmark. Our first distribution of CopyDan royalties was made in 2019 and we make four distributions of these royalties each year.

We attempt to contact as many writers/estates as possible and work with organisations such as PRS for Music to try to find contact information. We encourage writers to contact us if they think they may be owed some royalties by emailing copydan@ivorsacademy.com.

Royalties lacking data for distribution

The second arrangement is where the reprographic agency does not collect any data on music that has been copied. There is no information to use to pay out these royalties directly to writers and over a number of years the relevant reprographic agencies in Norway, Sweden and Finland have been content that the money is used to fund the Academy’s education, advocacy and research activities to benefit the benefit the writing community as a whole.