Although copyright laws are complex and differ across the world, you probably already know the basics. As soon as an original song is created, the rights belong to the composer until 70 years after their death. Every time that song is ‘exploited’ and money changes hands (recorded, performed in licenced venues, broadcast, etc.) royalties are collected by collection agencies from ticket sales at concerts and sales of albums (e.g. PRS & MCPS) and eventually a proportion of those royalties will make its way to the composer. But copyright law, like life, is never quite that simple and clear cut!
Pre-Covid, as a performer you could rock up to a licenced venue, give the organisers your set list safe in the knowledge that a proportion of the ticket sales were being collected by PRS and would eventually make their way down the rights chain back to the composer. Now, with the explosion of music being exploited all over the Internet and live streamed on FaceBook and YouTube, performers are left in a confusing grey area. Responsibility has been placed back onto performers by those online platforms to check the copyright permissions before uploading any content.
YouTube’s first rule of copyright is that you are not allowed to post ‘content in their videos that someone else owns the copyright to’. They will either impose a copyright strike and remove your video if you upload content that does not belong to you or monetise your content with an advert with the income raised going to the copyright owner.
Facebook firmly put the assumption of permission back onto the performer, so generally you shouldn’t stream non-original content unless you have permission from the creator or publisher.
However, so much content is currently going up online onto social media it’s hard for publishers and composers to keep up with the exploitation of their content by performers. Enforcing take downs of unauthorized content takes composers and publishers unnecessary time and money.
As a courtesy, if you have uploaded performances that are not your original content onto social media and you haven’t asked permission, consider taking it down after a certain timed period. Until the collection agencies catch up with the fast pace growth of online performances it’s best to be mindful before any online performances of works by living composers or those under the 70 year rule.
In the first case, go to PRS for performance and MCPS for recording guidance.
For performances which are being streamed online for free, composers may well give you permission to upload content for a limited timed period. Many composers you can contact directly through their websites, or go to their publishers for information.
The golden rule should be – if you are making money from a performance/recording of a work that is not your own original work then permission and licencing should always be requested.
If you are a composer consider joining and registering your work with PRS and MCPS: prsformusic.com/join
If you record a work, get a mechanical licence from MCPS: prsformusic.com/licences/buy-a-licence-online
If you perform a work and you are charging people to listen to that performance then a proportion of ticket sales should go to the creators. Exclusions can apply (in places of worship and some education establishments) so check with PRS: prsformusic.com/royalties/live-performance-royalties
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