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While Copyright is the most common right
you will come across, there are also many other different types of rights as well.
The next most common ways of protecting ideas and your creative works are firstly
Performance Rights, plus the associated Mechanical Rights, and secondly the UK
Design Right and Registered Design Rights. UK
Design Rights are covered here, Registered
Design Rights are discussed here.
The right to perform a play or song is covered by Performance Rights.
This is a similar right to copyright. A work protected
by copyright can also include performance rights.
Mechanical rights control the mechanical duplication - i.e. mass production
- of performances for sale on tapes, records, CDs, videos and other media.
Together, performance and mechanical rights ensure that the copyright owner(s)
and publisher(s) are able to control when recordings, public performances, and
broadcasts can take place or be duplicated. They also ensure that both the copyright
owner(s) and publisher(s) get paid when their recordings or work are played or
presented for an audience.
Exemptions often include school plays (providing no adults take part) and taping
television or radio broadcasts for later (personal) use.
Obviously it will be very difficult to find out every time that performing
rights are breached (in the same way that it can be difficult to discover Copyright
theft, unless it is on a commercial scale).
The good news is that there are organisations who specialise in assigning licenses
to collect any monies due. These basically cover any places where the public go
and listen to music while there, even if it is only playing in the background.
For example, here's a brief sample of a few of them (there are many more), by
country:
- US: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and
Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). Plus mechanicals are administered by The Harry
Fox Agency (HFA). SESAC, Inc., is another (smaller) US performing rights organisation,
based in Nashville, which also has offices in New York, Los Angeles and London.
- Canada: The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).
- UK and Ireland: The Performing Rights Society (PRS) and Phonographic
Performance Ltd (which represents the music publishers i.e. the record companies).
In addition there is the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) for the
UK (& IMRO for Ireland).
- Australia: The Australasian Performing Rights Association Limited (APRA)
- APRA also administers the rights of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners
(AMCOS).
- International: BIEM - a group of similar organisations, all concerned
with the control of mechanical rights. It has 30+ members from 30 countries!
- International: CISAC - an international confederation of societies
for authors and composers. It represents 200+ societies from 98 countries!
There are also many, many more agencies (lots of countries have their own systems
and organisations for administering it all) - if you need more informationthan
the links above provide, try typing in 'Performing Rights' or 'Mechanical Rights'
into a search engine (you can also include the name of your country e.g. 'US Performing
Rights)... Our favourite search engine is www.yahoo.com
- but www.dogpile.com is also a great search
tool.
If you create for performance or are involved with the performance of artistic
works of any kind, or if open any business that plays background music to customers,
or if you run a venue with a stage for live music or dance etc., the chances are
that you will have to buy a licence or talk to some of these people sooner or
later!
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