PerfArtsTech Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Hi, At the school I work at, we're looking at the idea of recording a Christmas album, the idea is that we record a verity of students playing different Christmas songs and sell them to students, parents, teachers ect. To raise a little cash. The songs would be a verity of classical and modern and everything inbetween, so my question is: what are the legal issues with this? Would we have to pay to royalties and how would one go about such a thing, it's presumably a little different from ordering everything through French's like you would a play...Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 You want to look at MCPS licensing. There are some good deals for limited production runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerfArtsTech Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Thanks, I'll have a look. It worth noting that at no point do we intend to perform it live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Live performance should be covered under PRS that most schools hold, though some newer academies have been caught out not realising the county used to do that for them... The recorded copyright is handled by MCPS, though depending on the rights included with your sheet music there could be an extra fee to pay to the publisher for use of their print in a recording (this is separate to the musical composition/arrangement which is handled by MCPS). Confused yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 The thing you want to do is to look for the Limited Manufacturer License. It's aimed at exactly what you want to do, and is VERY simple. You pay a set fee depending on how many you produce. There is a maximum limit, but you can do small batches - so get maybe 100 done, and if you sell them, add another 100. There are no complicated forms and all they need to know is the genre and the CD title. There are restrictions - but they won't apply I doubt. Nobody can be a signed artist, they all need to be amateur, but the definition of amateur is determined by not being being signed - so a band that has a decent following locally is still considered amateur, even if they don't have another job. However, somebody who came 23rd in X-factor can't use the system, because they're a signed artiste! All done on line, with credit card payment - certificates then arrive via email to prove it's legit. I've done loads for small bands and events. It can also be used for fundraising events, weddings, funerals or anything similar. Oddly, for once PRS/MCPS have something America doesn't. Over there they have nothing similar. Direct Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerfArtsTech Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Thanks both you of you, you've been really helpful. This looks like its the exactly the thing we wants..Thanks again both of you :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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