Morris and Performing Rights (and Sharpe)

[watervole]

I was humming to myself in the kitchen this evening and thinking that 'Eleanor Rigby' would be a great Border Morris tune (and 'Yellow Submarine' would be great for North West).  Which set me wondering why morris sides actually use very little modern music - then it struck me that the reason might well be performing rights.

I have no idea what the cost/paperwork would be for using a popular tune to dance to, but as morris dancers are often dancing for free (or for a charity collection), I'm not sure if the cost would be something they could afford.

Does anyone know what the likely costs would be?  And does it make any difference whether you're playing a record or performing your own arrangement of the song?

If I play 'The Girl I left Behind me', then I have the great advantage of knowing it's out of copyright.

Incidentally, Sharpe fans with a keen ear will hear many popular morris tunes on the soundtrack.  That's because a lot of popular morris tunes originate from the time of the Napoleonic Wars.  Soldiers from all over the country fought in Wellington's army.  They marched to the same songs and took them back home again afterwards.  They used them for the morris, and the tunes gained a long lease of life.

Comments

[crazyscot]

Music licensing is a bit of a confusing minefield.

I would expect that playing a record would cost more than performing it yourself, as in the former case you'd need a license to cover the mechanical copyright in the record as well as the performing right in the song.

The PRS website is geared up to regular cases, and street performance doesn't seem to be one of them; long story short, ask them, but expect them to ask questions to try and determine whether you've previously been using copyrighted music without a license... http://www.prsformusic.com/users/businessesandliveevents/musicforbusinesses/charityandcommunity/Pages/default.aspx suggests they take a fair view towards charity events.

[watervole]

I'll ask them. No problems on prior use of copyrighted music, as Anonymous Morris hasn't danced anywhere yet!

[kalypso]

Did you hear The Smash Hit of 1453, aka L'Homme Arme?

[keris]

Depends on the venue mostly. Pubs will likely have a general PRS licence, as will a lot of halls, but if it's outside the venue probably hasn't unless it is licenced by the local council.. See the PRS site, specifically http://www.prsformusic.com/users/businessesandliveevents/livevenuesevents/festivals/Pages/festivals.aspx (down the bottom is a set of links, I think you want rate GP for "free popular music concerts"). Basically, there is a flat rate charge plus a charge for the number in the audience (maximum GBP 795 as far as I can see).

Ah, but see http://www.prsformusic.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PPS%20Tariffs/O-2009-07%20Tariff.pdf (PDF), which talks about GBP 4.72 per day. Per song? I dunno.

However, none of them seem a very good fit, best ask the PRS directly, there may be other rates for background music for dancing where the performers are dancing (not the audience).

IANAL,NDIPOTV...

[watervole]

I think a phone call will probably be in order.

[petra]

I was wandering the wilds of the internet and saw your post on teaching Morris at the Discworld con, then meandered in here.

I know Orion Longsword of Boston, Mass. does a dance to Dave Brubeck's Take 5, and I've no idea whether they pay royalties for that. I've also seen other teams use medleys that included a verse of Yellow Submarine, such as Red Herring Morris, also of Boston, in their dance "Over the Top." It hadn't occurred to me to wonder whether a copyright lawyer would try to charge for that--it seems unlikely that they'd come close enough to notice.

Hunting down the Take 5 link with its longsword in 5/4 made me think of the only Cotswold dance I know of in 7/8, but the composer of the latter tune is a member of the Morris community and therefore unlikely to go asking people for royalties if they learn the dance and play the tune.

[watervole]

Love the longsword link - and have commented there to say so. Excellent dancing, and the music really works for it.

Don't think the music works for the Cotswold dance, though.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether you know yakshaver but he happens to have posted this link (http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page) today.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Sadly, 'trad' and 'anon' aren't represented - I'd love a collection of sheet music for many traditional tunes.

This archive is really for classical music.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

I am not very familiar with morris dances but I have caught the rhythm and I am sure I would guess right the tunes on the Sharpe soundtrack:-)
About the copyright - I hope your rules are not so idiotic like ours!!!

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I knew you'd appreciate the Sharpe connection!

[rockwell-666.livejournal.com]

I think this site has what you're looking for: http://www.ppluk.com/

Their contact section has got numbers which you can call to ask them questions.

[wingedkami.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough I was pondering something similar the other day - now I actually have some answers. :) I've been wondering about the legalities of performing folk songs as part of a variety show at a theatre, as some of my favourites are still in copyright.

Looks like I'm probably OK, providing the theatre has the appropriate license and I can tell them in advance what I'm going to sing. It's making me wish I was better at songwriting though, so I could just do my own material and avoid all this stuff.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

If you're performing folk songs, I would definitely give the theatre a playlist. If memory serves, a lot of places are a bit casual about this and simply pay a flat fee which gets shared around all known artists on the basis of overall recorded sales. As folk is often performed at smaller venues that do less record-keeping, the songwriters can miss out.

If you want to be sure that YOUR songwriter gets the cash, then you need to ensure they're on the paperwork.

(I remember this bit from when I was helping out at a folk festival one year. They were very careful to be sure the right people got the royalties)