Thursday, August 21, 2014

PERFORMANCES IN CHURCH

 I do not want to appear to be an Intellectual Law guru or anything. I just want to present a couple of points relative to compliance with the law. The following links will give a meager overview of the salient points relative to a performance within the church. You should still consult your legal representative for these issues for completion.

As always there is good news and bad news contingent upon which side of the fence you are on. You must still keep up with YOUTUBE and its evolving licensing issues it you plan on posting there.

I am sure you will be very enlightened with understanding of these sometimes complicated issues

Alonzo Peters MD 08-21-14

INTELECTUAL LAW ( in Part) of Church Performances


Legal concerns for community choir We are starting a community choir and need to know about performance permissions and other issues.  We plan to do 2 concerts per year in our public high school.  We have purchased our music from one of the main online music stores.  Do we need an Ascap or other license for every single piece we perform?  We are not charging admission and none of our members
 or directors are paid.  So far, all of our expenses have been paid by me (the director) with no other funding.  Is there anything else I should know about so we don't get sued for something we were ignorant about.  Thank you.
Replies (11): Threaded | Chronological
Kala Pierson on September 29, 2010 1:27pm
Venues (not performers) pay ASCAP and BMI, and the venues pay a blanket licensing fee that isn't connected to the specific pieces that will be performed.  So you don't have to be concerned about licensing.  Thanks for purchasing your music legitimately rather than photocopying (that's a primary concern for new choruses).
 If you perform a piece by a living composer, it would be very nice of you (though it's not legally required) to let the composer know about the performance.  As a composer, I sometimes find out about performances in roundabout ways, and it is always very much appreciated when performers let me know directly.

4.     http://www.choirdirector.org/