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CopyrightThis page contains articles surrounding copyright issues in theatre.Play Copyright | Music Use in Theatre | Video Recording Theatre
JUST WHOSE PLAY IS IT
ANYWAY? (updated 2002, by Kenny Chan) Every audience member has seen the phrase, “This play is produced with the permission of Samuel French Limited” (Or Playwrights’ Guild of Canada or whomever) in their program. What does it really mean? It means that the theatre company has received permission to perform the play, has purchased all their scripts (not photocopied or borrowed from the library) and will be paying royalties to the author. It also means that any changes to the script have been approved by the playwright (or their agent). When planning a season or individual production, a theatre group or producer should check to see “if the rights are available” and identify who they should contact to obtain permission to produce the play. If in doubt, the wisest thing to do is speak to an organization like the Playwright’s Guild of Canada (if the play is Canadian) or Samuel French Company or the Dramatists Play Service (if it is a non-Canadian work). If they don’t know they will refer you to the appropriate place to check. Each fall, Playwright’s Guild of Canada publishes an annual catalogue of plays by Canadian writers with play descriptions, playwrights’ biographies, script prices and names of publishers. Simply write to them for a free catalogue or click here to surf their website for a sneak preview. In the case of a play or original dramatic, literary, or musical work, copyright is a form of intellectual property that is protected. Authors have the right to be compensated for the labour they put into writing that work. It also protects the author’s integrity by ensuring that their work is not misinterpreted or used to convey an impression that the author never intended. The current “Copyright Act” in Canada is federal legislation, started in 1921 and coming into force as of 1924. This act (updated in 2001) covers both the right to print and reproduce a work, and the rights to perform a work. Literary texts, music, visual art, pamphlets, lectures, computer programs, maps and architectural plans are covered in this act. A script, a speech or even a dance performance in which movements have been recorded, is covered by copyright. However themes, ideas, mere titles, names, catch phrases, and anything else that is not really substantial, cannot be covered by copyright. For dramatic works, a playwright automatically acquires copyright protection as soon as the work is made, providing the author is a Canadian citizen. Copyright does not last forever; it gives an author exclusive rights for a limited period of time. That time is usually for the life of the author, plus 50 years (in Europe it is 70 years so if you’re using a European text, check the copyright carefully). There are some exceptions to that rule. In a situation where the author is unknown for example, copyright exists for 50 years from the date of first publication of the work. In a case of joint authorship or collectives, copyright exists for the life of the author who dies last, plus 50 years after their death. For posthumous works, copyright exists for 50 years from the fate of the work’s first publication. Once the copyright has expired, the work is said to be “in the public domain”. There is no copyright and no one owns it. The plays of William Shakespeare, for example, are in the public domain. However, if a publisher decided to put together a book of only some of Shakespeare’s plays, that book as an entity in and of itself would be protected under the Copyright Act. If it proves difficult to track down the author of the play and you have made many attempts to locate the individual, you can contact the Copyright Board of Canada to apply for permission. They will ask you what steps you’ve taken to find the author. Royalty payments are still required. An author or their estate may choose to ‘assign’ copyright, which means they transfer the rights to the piece and someone else owns them. Authors may also make an arrangement with someone else to administer their copyright for them. This is where an organization like the Playwright’s Guild of Canada or Samuel French would be used. They are responsible for giving permission for the use of a script. This permission may not always be granted (there may be a blackout on productions of a script because the playwright is rewriting, or there may be a group touring into the area with a production of the same show). What constitutes infringement? Firstly, the unlawful reproduction of a copyrighted work, such as photocopying scripts for rehearsal instead of purchasing scripts from the playwright or agent. A ‘colourable’ imitation of work, which is a reproduction of someone’s work that you pass off as your own (plagiarism in other words) is an infringement. The Copyright Act also covers the ‘moral rights’ of authors. Any changes to the literal text without authorization is an infringement. Any unauthorized changes to a script could directly or indirectly damage the playwright’s reputation. When a company such as the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada grants permission to someone to perform a play, they are giving permission for that work to be reproduced in its entirety. That means any changes made to a play – including gender changes, taking out dialogue, adding words or adding scenes – may not be made without specific permission of the author or their agent. If you don’t receive permission to make these changes, you are infringing the copyright, no matter how valid the changes seem to be to you. If there are changes you wish to make, you may speak to the company that grants permission and ask about the proposed changes. They will then go to the author’s agent and make the proposal, and the author (or their agent) will make the final decision. Sometimes changes have to be made but it is important to ask for permission. The consequences of infringement can be very serious. The first time you get caught you may only receive a fine and a warning. But if it happens again, you may be looking at a bigger fine or withdrawal of permission privileges. The next stop is legal action and that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. You may think that no one will notice, but don’t be sure. Playwrights often comb through theatre listings in newsletters to see who is producing their plays. Access© (formerly known as CANCOPY) represents Canadian creators and publishers to ensure easy and legal access to permission to photocopy for users and compensation for the copyright holders. In the final analysis, decisions about the infringement of copyright will end up being made by the courts. You may think that setting a play in the living room instead of the kitchen isn’t infringement, but the playwright had a reason for setting it in the kitchen. If in doubt, check with the company supplying the permission. They’re only a phone call away. Playwrights want to see their work produced, so they want to accommodate the wishes of the producers. Many (but not all) would probably be quite amenable to any reasonable suggestion on your part. It may even help them to gain new insights into their own work!! If you want to find out more about Copyright, check out the following links:
Playwrights’ Guild of Canada (PGC)
COPYRIGHT MUSINGS
ABOUT COPYRIGHT MUSIC USE IN
PLAYS Got the rights to the
play? Music is an integral part of a play. We use music to establish a mood, provide background noise, fill that dead air during those scene changes and many other things. You probably never notice it, but practically all of the shows that we watch use music, live or recorded, in some capacity. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that most of the music we use, like most of the plays we put on, is protected by copyright and what's more, we often forget to obtain permission from the copyright owner before we use it. And the process to obtain permission to use copyright protected musical works is often tedious and time consuming, which may be another reason why so many people “forget” to obtain the rights to the music they use. Copyright applies to the original expression of an idea in works such as songs, plays, novels, magazine articles and computer programs. It gives the copyright owner the sole right to produce or reproduce and use the copyright material in any number of ways they want. In Canada, any original work created is automatically protected by copyright. The creator of a work is not necessarily always the owner of the copyright. Copyrights can be transferred or licensed to other people, and most published artists will transfer their rights to their publishers and/or agents. The Canadian Copyright Act, federal legislation
established in 1921, is an act that protects copyright owners from other
people copying their original work without permission. And according
to the Canadian Copyright Act, any public performance of copyright
material requires permission to be obtained in advance. It’s
important that you acquire the rights for the music you use as songwriters
and lyricists primarily make their living through royalties.
To get permission to use copyright protected music in a show, you have to first examine how the music will be used in the production. If the play that you’re putting on is actually a musical, like Miss Saigon or South Pacific, then you probably don’t have to specifically request permission to use the music. The rights and royalties you pay for the play itself will often cover the use and performance of the music. The right to perform complete musicals, operas and ballets are referred to in the copyright world as, Grand Rights. Now, what if you’re using music for pre-show, intermission and post-show? The rights you need to obtain to use the music for the aforementioned purposes are known as Small Rights or Performing Rights. Performing Rights are the rights to perform non-dramatic musical works in a public performance. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, otherwise known as SOCAN administers Performing Rights through licences and tariffs, a listing of which is available by contacting SOCAN. The use of music in pre-show, intermission and post-show, which falls under Tariff 15A, isn’t licensed on a “per song” basis. Rather, it’s calculated by the size of the facility in which the music will be playing to exactly $1.18 per square meter per year. This tariff allows the owners of the facility to play any song in SOCAN’s repertoire as background music. Under the Copyright Act, owners of facilities can be found liable for copyright infringement if SOCAN licences are not obtained in advance for events with music. It’s the facility owner’s duty to pay for this tariff as they are the ones who are allowing the music to be played. To find out more about SOCAN, visit their website at www.socan.ca. Now, this is where things get a little confusing. SOCAN may deal with performing rights, but the rights to use copyright protected music in a show or in a musical review are not administered by SOCAN. If you are planning on adding music to your show which isn’t specifically written into the script, wanting to perform a song live, or to create a parody of a song or change/modify an existing song, you’ll have to seek permission from the individual copyright holders of the songs. This also includes background and ‘mood music,” music for scene changes, curtain calls, or when you’re creating a musical revue or a cabaret night. And even if the song is specifically written and indicated in the script, the royalties of the play may not cover the rights for the song. Check to see if the play covers the right to use the music when you apply for the rights to the play. Unfortunately, there’s no simple way of going about obtaining the rights to a song used in your play. First of all, give yourself plenty of time to go through the process of obtaining the rights to use the music. Secondly, always have a back up plan if you’re unsuccessful in obtaining the rights. Begin by checking out the CD cover information for the following information: The album title, the name of the song, the artist(s) who performed it, the composer and lyricist, the record company and their mailing address and phone number. If that information is unavailable, do some research
online to find out the relevant information. A list of resource
websites and suggested reading is available at the end of the
article. Locating a copyright owner can be extremely
difficult. If, for some reason, you absolutely cannot find or
contact the copyright holders of the song, you can contact The Canadian
Copyright Licensing Agency (Access©) to help you find the
information. If Access © is unable to help you, you can turn to the
Copyright Board of Canada to issue you a licence on behalf of the
unlocatable copyright holder. Canada’s Copyright Act authorizes the
Copyright Board to act on behalf of unlocatable copyright owners, however,
the application process to obtain rights from the Copyright Board tends to
be quite lengthy and complicated. Further information on this
process can be found online at If you are successful in locating all of the copyright owners and in obtaining the rights to use the music, you may want to compile the songs onto a single CD so that your sound technician doesn’t have to constantly change CDs or tapes. Before you go ahead and copy the music onto a CD, you’ll want to contact The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA) to obtain a Mechanical licence. CMRRA administers these Mechanical licenses that authorize the reproduction of music from CDs and cassettes. To find out more about CMRRA and mechanical licenses, visit their website at www.cmrra.ca and request a brochure. When is music free to be used? Copyright protection only lasts from the day of the initial creation of the work until 50 years after the death of the final collaborator of the work. This means that Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy, Tchaikovsky having been dead for much more than 50 years, is considered “Public Domain” and is free to be used. However, this doesn’t mean that you can use any song in Public Domain without obtaining the rights or paying fees. For example, if you wanted to use the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s recording of the song, you would still be required to get permission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to use that recording. This is because, while the song itself is in Public Domain, the specific recording of the song is protected by copyright. The Copyright Act also states that copyright material may
be used without the risk of copyright infringement for specific
purposes. This exception is called Fair Dealing and is detailed in
part three of the Canadian Copyright Act. Fair Dealing covers use of
copyright protected material for research or private study, criticism or
review, news reporting, reproduction and performance for educational
purposes (part of the curriculum). While you’re able to use
copyright material for these purposes for free, there are many
requirements that need to be met in order for Fair Dealing to come into
effect. For example, copied material must be destroyed after a
specified amount of time for each specific use of the material. For
further information, check out the online version of the Canadian
Copyright Act at There are many other aspects of copyright protected music use in theatre that aren’t covered in this article. Here are helpful links that will enable you to research this topic and how it specifically affects you and your production. The important point that must be understood is that the music is copyright and we absolutely must obtain permission to use those songs in our shows. To put on a production without acquiring the rights is an infringement of copyright and can lead to legal action taken against you by the copyright owners. It doesn’t matter who you are, be you a small community theatre group or an international for-profit-mega-musical-machine: copyright laws apply to everyone. For your own best interest, and for the livelihood of the music makers, obey your copyright obligations, have fun and get on with the show! Helpful links and contacts to help you out in your
copyright travels: Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers
of Canada Limited (SOCAN) Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency
Limited (CMRRA) The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency
(CANCOPY) Canadian Music Publishers Association
(CMPA) Canadian Music Centre (CMC) SONG
WEBSITES The American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers (ASCAP) All Music Guide Composer/Lyricist
Database
Boosey & Hawkes EMI Group VIDEO RECORDING IN THEATRE I recently had a request from a community group that wanted to know if there was a video-tape of a production that was part of a Theatre Ontario Festival. I explained that video-taping is not allowed under copyright laws. I then read an article in the Scarborough Music Theatre’s newsletter where the Board of SMT had gone to a lot of effort to find information on the issue of making an archival tape for their own records. I thought I would share the information with you. SMT contacted Tams-Witmark, Music Theatre International, Samuel French and Rogers & Hammerstein and they were reminded that when a contract is signed, a commitment is made that a show will not be recorded. The relevant section from the current Music Theatre
Contract Performance License: a. Recording: This license does not allow you to make and/or distribute a mechanical recording (rehearsal, performance and/or archival) of the Play or any portion of it by any means whatsoever, including, but not limited to, audiocassette, video, film and digital sequencing. b. Broadcast: This license does not allow you to broadcast, televise and/or electronically post on the Internet any part of the Play, either audio or visual or both, including musical selections. Many thanks to Herschel Rosen for this informative article. |