Charity CD

[mjriley]

Me and some mates are thinking about producing a charity CD on behalf of our school.

We're still auditioning for talent at this stage but the main request is to be able to do covers as we've been asking them to produce original tracks up to now.

However we're unsure about the legislation regarding the recording and sale of cover recordings.

 

Looking for advice on whether this is legal regarding cover works considering this is being done through a secondary educational establishment.

 

Regards

[paulears]

You need a license. No exemption for schools or colleges selling things, even if for charity.

 

Google for PRS Limited Manufacture License. This is ideal for this project. There is little complication. They need to know how long the CD lasts, the genre and quantity. It's priced in bands, quantity wise. There is an upper limit, but I doubt you'd sell this many. The license works for your idea UNLESS anybody playing on it is signed to a record label. It's ideal for charity CDs.

[Bobbsy]

If you're willing to put in some extra work, there MIGHT be another way.

 

Find out who holds the rights to the original music--it should be on the label of the CD--and then search for an address/phone number for that company, likely in London or New York.

 

Ring and find the appropriate person to whom to put your case. This will take persistence and time. However, once you find the right person and put your case ("charity CD for XXXX, only local sales, probably no more than 200 produced, that sort of thing) you MIGHT just get written permission to go ahead with your project.

 

I should say, I did exactly this sort of thing for a project back in 1976, at that stage mainly with Elton John tracks. It involved long distance phone calls to London (main rights holder) and New York (North American rights holder--I was in Canada then) but we DID get permission. They required a token payment to make it all official (think it was $10 or something) which we made and, for that, got licence in writing. We also tried for some Rolling Stones tracks and that was turned down--so no guarantees--but you don't know until you try. Whether things are easier or harder now, I don't know.

[paulears]

It's still possible Bob, but the stumbling block is often cost. Some of the bigger record companies have to use retained legal people to do licensing, so it costs real money for them to do it. I too had a similar experience with getting permissions - the US record companies often having the $10 option, but it's got less and less successful - especially now this special license exists. It never hurts to try, but individual clearances are difficult - because it's the composers permission rather than the performers permission, so although some are the same people, often the composers are not 'names', and more keen to leave the licensing agents to deal with it.