CLNZ: A Year of Milestones and New Beginnings
Chairperson Karun Shenoy
2024 marked some significant achievements for CLNZ, as well as changes at the board level. In 2024 we increased our distributions to rightsholders by over $400,000 – from $5.5 million in 2023 to over $5.9 million in 2024.
As the only Reproduction Rights Organisation in New Zealand, distributing revenues to rightsholders is perhaps our most important function and we are pleased to have been able to increase this distribution during difficult economic times.
We also established Resale Royalties Aotearoa - Toi Huarau to collect and distribute royalties under the Artist Resale Royalty Scheme on behalf of eligible visual artists. The scheme was established through the Resale Right for Visual Artists Act 2023, which was enacted to provide eligible artists with a 5% royalty on qualifying resales of their original visual artworks. The Act, along with the supporting Resale Right for Visual Artists Regulations 2024, came into force on 1 December 2024, aligning New Zealand with international standards and fulfilling obligations under free trade agreements. As the administrator of the scheme appointed by Ministry for Culture and Heritage - Manatū Taonga (MCH), we are responsible for ensuring the efficient collection and distribution of these royalties, thereby supporting artists and fostering a vibrant cultural sector.
Sam and his team were busy during the year, completing all of the establishment activities, including people, process, policy, and systems in time for a successful launch on time. This has helped us to achieve our strategic objective of diversifying further into the visual arts – separately we have now signed up all the major auction houses to the Auction House Licensing Scheme to ensure compliance with national and international copyright laws.
We further extended the Auction House licensing scheme, for Visual artists, by signing up all major auction houses to the scheme. This scheme ensures auction houses are able to comply with national and international copyright laws. We launched, with the assistance of MCH, the MyCreativeRights platform. This includes the Catalogue service, to assist creator's with record keeping and understanding of Copyright and a subsidised Legal service for creators.
The Legal Service in particular has been well received and in 2025 we are looking to see what improvements we can make to both services. Tom Rennie stepped down as Publisher Director after completing two terms. We would like to thank Tom for his extensive work on the board, including chairing the Audit and Risk Committee. Tom brought a remarkable range and depth of knowledge to our discussions and his contributions came from a place of great experience and reflection. They were always measured and helpful in moving the discussions forward. We were also delighted to welcome two new directors on Board in 2024 - Rose Carlyle as Shareholder Director from NZSA and Victoria Spackman, as Independent Director. On other matters, AI continues to dominate discussions, and Sam has spent considerable time on the subject. This will probably continue to be the case in coming years.
In conclusion, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my fellow Board members for their support, and to our Chief Executive Sam Irvine and his team for all their work resulting in another successful year for CLNZ.
For more information on 2024 at CLNZ, you can read our Annual Report