for artists

how it works

• you upload your music. we review it within 24-48 hours.
• listeners pay $12 a month and stream as much as they want.
• 70% of every subscription goes into a pot. it’s split each month based on how much each artist was played, and paid to whoever controls the rights (you, or your label). on top of that, second press pays APRA AMCOS directly for the communication of musical works, a further 15% of net revenue covering songwriter royalties.
• if you’re 5% of streams that month, you get 5% of the pot.
• payouts go out monthly. minimum threshold is $10. anything under that rolls over.

how to apply

1. email hello@secondpress.com.auwith links to your music and your socials. that’s the application. nothing to upload yet.
2. we’ll review and come back to you. if it’s a fit, we set up your artist portal account and send you a welcome email to log in.
3. from the portal you add your bank details and upload your releases yourself:
   • masters (wav or flac)
   • album art (2000px or bigger)
   • artist photo (2000px or bigger)
4. each release upload is reviewed and live on the platform within 24-48 hours.

what you keep

• full ownership of your music. always.
• a non-exclusive licence (you can keep your stuff on other platforms too).
• you can pull your music down at any time.
• real-time streaming and earnings data on your artist dashboard.

exclusives & early releases

exclusive content works well on second press. it gives subscribers something they can’t get anywhere else, and a reason to send your fans here.

• demos, b-sides, live sessions, alt versions, remixes, anything unreleased.
• early releases work too. drop something on second press a few weeks to a month before the wide release.
• exclusives can be permanent or time-limited (30 days, 90 days, whatever you decide).
• you keep full ownership, and exclusive streams are paid at the same per-stream rate as everything else.

rights you need to control

to upload to second press, the master recording rights need to be yours to license. for most independent artists, that’s already the case.

• own your masters?you’re good. sign up directly.
• on a non-exclusive distributor(distrokid, tunecore, cd baby, ditto, etc.)? you’re also good - these deals don’t restrict where else your music lives.
• on an exclusive distributor or label that controls your masters? the label / distributor needs to onboard you instead - see /labels.
• songwriter royalties are paid separately from your master payout. second press pays APRA AMCOS directly for the communication of musical works (on top of the 70% master share). if you’re an apra member, your songwriter share gets paid the normal way through apra, separately from your second press master payout.
• not sure which bucket you’re in? just email and we’ll work it out.

based overseas?

artists and labels outside australia get paid too. here’s how it works:

• master payouts go to your overseas bank account via wise, in your local currency at wise’s mid-market rate. the wise transfer fee is deducted from your payout and shown on your statement.
• the international minimum payout is AUD $30 (vs $10 for AU accounts). small balances roll forward so the transfer fee stays a small share of your payout.
• songwriter royalties reach you through your local collecting society (ascap, bmi, prs and the like) via apra amcos’s reciprocal agreements, so you don’t need to be an apra member.
• when you set up your payout details, you’ll declare your country of tax residency so we apply the right withholding rate (below).

tax withholding for non-australian payouts

australian tax law requires second press to withhold tax on royalty payments to non-australian residents. the default rate is 30%, reduced to typically 5–15% under australia’s tax treaty network (us 5%, uk 5%, nz / canada / most of the eu 10%).

this isn’t specific to second press. every distributor that pays artists across borders does this under their own country’s tax law. us-based ones (distrokid, cd baby, awal, tunecore) withhold via the irs’s w-8ben regime at equivalent treaty rates.

we issue an annual payment summary showing royalties paid and tax withheld, so you (or your accountant) can claim a foreign tax credit when filing taxes in your home country. recovery depends on your local tax rules and individual circumstances.

what we will never do

• host AI-generated music.
• run ads.
• offer a free tier that devalues your work.
• take investment from or partner with unethical ventures.

the licensing agreement

the full agreement you’ll accept during onboarding, to read or download:

artist licensing agreement (pdf)

questions? email hello@secondpress.com.au.

read the faq