Making the Music Come Alive … Legally
Copyrights, Performance & Recording LicensesComposers/Authors/Printers/Proprietors/Publishers/Copyrights/and more!
(Fourth in a four-part series.)

By Judith Galloway, Hood River Valley Chorus, Region 24

(Note: The fees listed in this document are current as of July 12, 2006, and are subject to change.)

Last issue featured information about performance licenses. This article, the final in the series, will review audio recordings and mechanical licenses.

Audio Recordings

The songwriter or copyright holder has the sole right to record the music.

Mechanical Licensing

A mechanical license grants the right to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical compositions (songs), including uses on phonorecords (i.e. CDs, records, tapes, and certain digital configurations). Once a song has been commercially recorded, the right to make additional commercial recordings is automatic, only requiring payment of the mechanical license fee. If a song has never been commercially recorded, permission from the copyright owner must be obtained. The Harry Fox Agency was established to license, collect, and distribute mechanical license fees on behalf of U.S. publishers that own and/or control the rights to musical compositions. Simply stated, if you want to record and distribute a song written by someone else, or if your business requires the distribution of music written by others, you must pay the mechanical license fee.

Obtaining a Mechanical License

Obviously songwriters and publishers want a mechanical license fee paid for making audio copies of published music. (Medleys require payment of the mechanical license fee for each song used [even in part] in the medley.)

United States: The Harry Fox Agency represents most United States publishers, and for these publishers the minimum number of copies is 250 (you have to pay for at least that many, whether needed or not). The 2007 minimum mechanical licensing fee is $22.75 (9.1 cents per recording x 250). Once this fee is paid, then the chorus or quartet could make up to 250 duplications of the song where each track (whether tenor, lead, baritone, bass, or 4-part) counts as 1 of the 250 possible copies. If your chorus needs over 250 copies, additional mechanical licensing fees must be paid. You can access the Harry Fox Agency online at: www.harryfox.com.

Canada: In Canada, mechanical royalties are tracked and tallied by the non-profit Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (www.cmrra.ca). Members of CMRRA include publishing companies and self-published songwriters. CMRRA works by granting mechanical licenses to reproduce music for public sale or broadcast in exchange for payment of license fees, which it then distributes as royalties to its clients. The CMRRA has a “Pay-as-You-Press/Import” plan for licensing small-run productions. Royalties are payable at the time your license application is made at the standard royalty rate (in 2006, $0.077 per song, per copy, where the running time of the recording is five minutes or less — or a minimum amount of $38.50). If you are a Canadian resident, your payment must also include 7% GST.

Sweet Adelines International: Sweet Adelines International is the copyright holder of a few songs which we sing, but not for most of them. For women’s arrangements, go first to the Harry Fox Agency for the mechanical license.

Educational Copy

It is legal for your chorus or quartet to record just one educational copy for the chorus or quartet without paying for a license, NOT one per member.

Learning Tracks Received at Workshops

Learning CDs or tapes that you receive at (or in conjunction with) schools and workshops are legally ONLY yours. The mechanical license has been paid by the organization that recorded the CD or tape. Again, write on the CD or tape the “when, where, and what for” information. It is not legal to make copies of the CD or tape for your friends, quartet or chorus.

Duplicating Learning Tracks (CDs or tapes)

It is popular now to provide our members with learning tracks (CDs or tapes) for learning new music.

Buying a single learning CD or tape is one thing — and we could use that one CD for the whole chorus or quartet to pass around or listen to in order to learn a song. Again, you bought only one, so you have one to use as you can.

Members (not the chorus) can make for themselves an audio working copy for educational purposes in order to learn the music. Recording parts of a rehearsal, or making their own personal recording of the learning CD –for the purpose of learning the music– is OK when done on a personal/individual basis.

If a chorus or quartet wants to make/duplicate their own learning CDs or tapes of a song for each chorus member (and guest books), then they need to be totally legal and pay for those recordings (even if you’d call them unusable recordings, you are still copying someone’s published music). The chorus/quartet needs to purchase a mechanical license for each song that they want to record, including the individual part tracks.

The chorus/quartet should keep appropriate written records for learning tracks they order and/or duplicate for the group. They should keep information on who has them, how many, etc. As a courtesy, ask the maker of the learning tracks for permission to make copies of their tracks for use by the chorus or quartet — this permission is just as a courtesy and does not give you permission to duplicate the published song until you have paid for the mechanical license.

Posting Learning Tracks on Your Web Sites

When you pay the mechanical license fee for recording/duplicating a song, you will be able to explain how you’re planning to use the number of recordings you paid for. As with the sheet music, choruses and quartets can post the learning tracks on their Web site for their members to access as a learning tool. However, the chorus must do everything possible to protect the music. The learning tracks must be posted in a members only section of the Web site with password protection. Written records must be kept to count the number of downloads that occur to stay below the number of licensed duplications.

Making a Chorus and/or Quartet CDs or Tapes to Sell

If a chorus or quartet wants to record and produce their own CDs or tapes to sell, they need to pay for those recordings. They must pay the mechanical license fee for each song they want to record. They will also need to keep appropriate written records.

Video Recordings

It is legal to make a single educational evaluation video (or archival) of your chorus and/or quartet performance or show. Making more than one such copy is NOT legal.

If you want to make multiple legal video copies of your performance (whether for personal copies for the members, for using in a demo CD/DVD, or for selling), you should obtain a synchronization license, which is usually negotiated directly with the copyright holder.

Through a synchronization license, the copyright holder can authorize someone to use their song with visual images. The song is synchronized with the visual images. Synchronization fees are subject to negotiation and vary according to the popularity of the song and the importance of the song in the visual piece. If you are interested in producing a DVD of your chorus show, or using a video clip (with audio) of a chorus or quartet on a Web site, or producing a DVD to promote a chorus or quartet, contact the publisher for each song directly.

In the U.S., search for publisher information by using database searches through ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Sweet Adelines International can provide you with information regarding songs on which they hold the copyrights.

In Canada, synchronization royalties are tracked and tallied by the non-profit Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (www.cmrra.ca). CMRRA works by granting synchronization licenses to reproduce music for public sale or broadcast in exchange for the payment of license fees, which it then distributes as royalties to its clients.

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, you can visit APRA (www.apra.com.au) for more information on performance rights and licensing. If you are in Europe, use the following resources, Buma/Stemra (www.bumastemra.nl), GEMA (www.gema.de) or PRS U.K. (www.prs.co.uk). A good source for International Performance Rights Organizations is CISAC (www.cisac.org).

Summary

You might want to consider these suggestions:
Develop an easy-to-follow, easy-to-use, written record-keeping system for tracking the music and all legal documents related to each arrangement.

Review all current chorus music and make sure it is legal.

For new arrangements, purchase more than enough for current members and guest books. If you find that later you need more copies than you paid for, contact the individual from whom you purchased the music and arrange to send additional money for the additional copies. Keep written documentation for the additional copies.

Make a working copy for each chorus/quartet member, and store the clean originals in a safe place. When you are finished with the working copies of the music, collect all copies and destroy them. Thus you will still have clean music copies for future use.

If you want to have copies of learning tracks (CD or tape) available for your members, go ahead and make arrangements with the Harry Fox Agency, CMRRA, or Sweet Adelines International, to pay for the necessary mechanical licenses when you order the learning tracks. Then you can duplicate and/or post the tracks on a MEMBERS ONLY page on your Web site.

Yes, to avoid paying the mechanical license fee, you can ask your members to record their own educational copy of the learning track. However, this takes organization to make sure everyone has their recorders on and ready at the right time.

If you bring an old song back into your repertoire, make sure all paperwork is in order. If you have no paperwork, contact the arranger to see what they suggest you do.
Keep all written records up-to-date. It is crucial to stay ahead of a project this important.

If you have a question, ask! Contact the music services department at International Headquarters if you have questions regarding published music sold by Sweet Adelines International.

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