Welcome to the Media Copyright Agency.
We work on behalf of New Zealand’s leading news and magazine publishers, providing copyright licenses to businesses and other organisations.
Contact us today to find out if you need a licence.
We represent around 40 publishers covering 200 publications including their digital content.
We provide a one-stop-shop to get a single copyright licence that covers all the publications we represent, and we make it easy for them and you by offering a single licence that gives you access to works from all of the publications you select.
With our licence you can get on with what you do best, without worrying if you’re covered.
Revenue from your licence fees is distributed back to publishers in the form of royalty payments so they can continue to invest in producing quality, fact-checked journalism.
Apply Online
All businesses and organisations need a licence if they want to copy, store, or distribute the content produced by the publishers we represent.
Don’t worry, we’ve made it super simple for you to apply for the right kind of licence for your organisation. Click the button and follow the prompts to get started.
Publishers we represent
Adrenalin Publishing Ltd | Advocate Communications Ltd | Agri Media Ltd | AgriHQ Limited | Are Media | Consumer | Contrafed | CountryWide Media | Hex Works Ltd t/a The Spinoff | Intermedia | JDJL LIMITED | Kowhai Media | Long Haul Publications | LT Publishing | Marine Media Limited | Michael deHamel | Newsroom | NZ Fishing Media | NZAA | Radio New Zealand | Review Publishing Co. Ltd | River City Press | Slick & Sassy Media Ltd | Soar Communication Group | The Health Media | The T2 Agency Ltd / Trends | Twenty Seven Publishers | VIP Publications | Wellington Suburban Newspapers (WSN)
About Us
Who We Are
The Media Copyright Agency was established on the 1st January 2003. We represent around 40 publishers covering 200 publications including their digital content.
What We Do
We work on behalf of New Zealand’s leading news and magazine publishers, providing licenses to organisations who copy, store and distribute newspaper, magazine and news website content so that they can do so legally.
By obtaining a licence from the MCA, organisations can protect themselves form non-compliance risks and gain the right to copy articles from most major New Zealand news media publications.
Meet the Team
Brook and Chris are the key contacts at the Media Copyright Agency and are based in the Textile Centre in Parnell, Auckland. Please don’t hesitate to contact Chris directly regarding any licensing queries, or Brook for anything else, using our contact us form.
What is copyright and why are licences needed?
- Copyright is a statutory property right that applies automatically in New Zealand when a ‘work’ is created. Amongst other things, a work can be a physical or digital article, piece of text, or image, a video, or a recording.
- The © symbol only acts as a reminder. Even when the © is not displayed, copyright still applies.
- All of the publications we represent are protected by copyright, whether they are print (hard copy) publications or online publications.
- Copyright in a work is infringed when someone who is not the owner does something that is a “restricted act” without permission (i.e., a licence) from the copyright owner.
- Restricted acts include copying (which can include uploading, downloading, saving electronically, forwarding electronically, printing, etc.), adapting, or circulating a work or a substantial part of it. Many restricted acts are activities that most organisations and businesses do routinely as part of day-to-day business practice. Having a licence that covers these activities means that businesses can get on with their day-to-day activity without the risk of infringing copyright.
- Copyright licensing is also an important source of revenue for publishers, complementing their sales revenues and helping them to continue to provide quality journalism.
Our Licences
Apply for a licence
All businesses and organisations need a licence if they want to copy, store, or distribute the content produced by the publishers we represent, including if they use a Media Monitoring Organisation.
- View publications we represent
- View pricing
– Corporate
– Government - End User Licence Agreement
Media Monitoring Organisations
There are a number of media monitoring agencies who are licenced to use our publications in their media monitoring service. Currently these are Isentia, Streem and Meltwater.
Please get in touch with us about a licence if you are using a media monitoring service, to make sure you are covered for your own copying and use of the media monitoring material you receive. You may have already received this information (for businesses operating in New Zealand or New Zealand and overseas) or this information (for businesses operating outside New Zealand) from your MMO about this.
All our licensed media monitoring organisations are required to provide us with information about their clients and the type of service they provide. We use this information to run our licensing scheme, including helping to ensure that appropriate licences are in place, to calculate fees, and to calculate royalties that are due to our publishers.
Publishers
The MCA’s role is to ensure that publishers’ rights are respected and the value of their work is appropriately recognised and remunerated.
The MCA currently represents around 40 publishers covering 200 publications including their digital content too.
If you would like the MCA to represent your content, please contact us to discuss.
Contact us
Visit us
Level 4, Textile Lofts
1 Kenwyn Street
Parnell, Auckland 1052
New Zealand