If, as one estimate suggests, there are about 300,000 customers for ISPs in Australia, this would provide a substantial payment to songwriters, composers and performers.

A spokesman for APRA, Richard Mallett, said the association, which is empowered to collect copyright fees on behalf of those groups, regarded service providers as responsible for the music that was carried over the Internet, in that they are seen to be making music available.

This could include background music on some sites, music being conveyed to users for specific purposes and such services as radio programs being sent out over the Net.

In a related move, Mallett said APRA is seeking payments from phone carrier Telstra for music carried over telephone lines -- for instance, when a subscriber uses a radio program to entertain callers on hold.

A judgment in an Australian federal court favored APRA's stand that the carrier is the music provider but Telstra has appealed this to the High Court. No decision is likely this year.

(David Frith and Computer Daily News/19960621)