Can I photocopy music for my students? Can we put on our own version of Frozen 2? Can I make my own arrangement of Bad Guy?
The rights and wrongs of intellectual property are something of a tangle for music teachers to unravel. Here I aim to break down what is – and isn't – legal to do in the name of music education.
Copyright
Copyright exists automatically on any created work – any piece of writing or musical composition. The owner of the copyright will be the creator, unless it is created as part of employment, in which case the copyright is usually owned by the employer. A work usually comes ‘out of copyright’ or ‘into the public domain’ 70 years after the death of the creator. One thing to note, however, is that arrangements have separate copyright – so an arrangement of Beethoven's Fifth could still be in copyright even though the original piece is not.
The two main areas of concern for music teachers are:
Copying music – photocopying or scanning sheet music or chunks of books for students
Performing music – in class or in a concert or show
The really excellent news is that, if your school is a state-funded school in England, the necessary licences are all funded directly by the DfE through the Centre for Education and Finance Management. The idea behind this is to save schools the individual hassle and expense of procuring their own licences. It's so sensible and helpful it's almost unbelievable! Visit https://cefm.co.uk/licensing/ to see exactly what is covered. Schools in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will need to check with their local authority to see if they have blanket licences. Independent schools registered with the DfE are covered by the Independent Association of Prep Schools, whether or not they are members of this.
Gilbert and Sullivan: now out of copyright for school productions
Copying music
Copying music is overseen by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA). The licence that you need – which is covered by the DfE if you're an English state school – is the Schools Printed Music Licence (SPML). This licence enables you to:
- Make photocopies and scans of entire works of printed music, or up to 10 percent of an anthology or choral work
- Use score-writing software programs to arrange print music
- Make notations by hand on copies of print music
- Make new arrangements to suit any instrumentation your school has available
- Share print music on a school VLE (virtual learning environment)
The school must own at least one original copy of the sheet music and the copy must be for use in school activities. Music for collective worship is not covered by the SPML, but by Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc; however, the DfE has also purchased CCLI licenses for all state-funded schools in England, so depending on where you are, you may be covered for this as well. Both the SPML and CCLI require any copies made to include a credit on the copy or, in the case of the CCLI, log them via their website.
There are some specific exceptions to what is permitted under the SPML that are relevant to music teachers. There is a link on the CLA website to the list of exclusions, which covers materials for Edexcel GCSE and A level music (such as practice listening papers and anthologies), Trinity theory workbooks and Trinity rock and pop books.
This is all extremely helpful to the music teacher with a tight budget: it is likely that some of the things that you had thought were illegal are actually fi ne. Scores of older ‘classical’ works that are in the public domain are freely available through the IMSLP website, which is a huge bonus resource for teachers.
One thing to be careful of, though, is that the SPML does not extend to copying music for use in instrumental lessons.
Performing music
Performing music is covered by the Performing Rights Society (PRS). Your PRS licence covers many of the performing activities that you are likely to be doing in school, although it is worth knowing about a few of the details:
- A school concert counts as a public performance, even if the audience comprises family members of the students and entry is free; anything that is not in a domestic setting is classed as public
- Any profit made from a performance must go back into the school. If any profit goes elsewhere, it may break the terms of your licence
- The licence does not cover you to make recordings of your concerts, whether audio or video, or to distribute these, even if you give them away
- Only performances on the school site are covered: if you take your students to perform elsewhere, this will come under the licence of the venue. An exception is a performance in a care home, which counts as a domestic setting
There are major exceptions to what is covered by your PRS licence, however. The most important to know about is the idea of ‘grand rights’. These apply to theatrical productions. In other words, if you want to put on a musical, you need to apply directly to the publisher for performing rights. These may or may not be available for the show you want to do: this depends on how old the show is, whether or not it is currently being performed anywhere else in your area, and any individual restrictions set by the publisher. All grand rights licences cost a substantial amount, and you will need to check the restrictions for any show that you want to put on. A quick internet search will tell you which company licences the show you are thinking of doing.
‘Schools editions’ of musicals such as Les Misérables cover lots of shows that are not yet on general release, and ‘Junior’ editions provide one-act versions of many hit productions. These come with a wealth of great resources, such as rehearsal tracks, transposition on demand, and even video licences. However, there are strict rules about casting, performance venues, and number of performances which must be adhered to.
There are no exceptions to the strict rules about grand rights shows, and there can be severe penalties if you break the rules. You cannot change a few details or lyrics to create your own version of a show in order to get round licensing. Here are a few more nuggets of useful information:
- The operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan are out of copyright, and therefore you can perform and adapt them freely without applying for rights. However, established modernised versions such as Broadway Pirates and Hot Mikado are still in copyright, as it is the arrangement that is covered by the copyright, not the original material, so you need to apply for performing rights for these.
- Disney are notoriously strict about performing rights for their songs. You can perform them in a concert, but if you are inserting Disney songs into a panto or variety show, the only ones you are permitted to use are songs from Snow White and Pinocchio. Even then, they cannot be sung by the same characters, or use the same title. So, for example, you cannot have seven dwarves singing ‘Heigh Ho’, or use the song in a show entitled Snow White. You could, though, have other characters singing ‘Heigh Ho’ as they go about their work, in a show with any other title. Restrictions also apply to songs from Grease and to Abba's back catalogue. Disney is litigious – the word is, don't mess with the mouse!
- If you are putting together a ‘songs from the shows’ performance, you may not perform more than 25 minutes of music from any one show without applying for grand rights. You must not have performers in costumes related to the original show, or use any of its specific choreography.
- Even when you have paid for performing rights for a show, there are restrictions about making changes to the music. You are not allowed to rearrange band parts, for example, or insert other pieces of music into the show.
There are other aspects of copyright that affect our work as music teachers: arranging music, making copies of audio and video files, putting together multimedia resources, and using radio and TV programmes. All of these have their own legalities, and it is worth checking out the details before you do anything in public. With arranging, for example, if something is purely for private study, it is likely to be legal; however, if you perform it or sell your arrangement, you will certainly need permission from the copyright holder.
Further information can be obtained from the following websites:
