Posting Your Musical Performance on SchoolTube: A How-To Copyright Guide
This is a working document that is currently under review by copyright and legal experts. These guidelines will help you safely and legally post your musical performance on SchoolTube, a media sharing Web site that is endorsed by major educational associations, including the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Because SchoolTube uses streaming technology, the videos you’ll be posting are considered “performances” rather than “recordings.” To determine if you need a performance license, first determine the type of musical work:
- Public Domain Works — If the work is in the public domain (generally, music published in 1922 or earlier), you don’t need a performance license. However, you should make sure that the arrangement of the public domain song you’re using is not copyrighted. See www.pdinfo.com for more information and a searchable database of public domain music.
- Copyrighted Works — If the work is not in the public domain (published after 1922), you need a performance license from the licensing organization the writer of the music has joined (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC). Visit the following sites to search for the music you’d like to use. The search will display contact information for the copyright owner/music publisher. You may need to pay a licensing fee, the cost of which will depend on the publisher.
Works published before January 1, 1978 have a copyright term that lasts 95 years from the publication date. For works published after 1978, the copyright lasts the duration of the creator’s life plus 70 years.
- "Dramatico-Musical" Works — If the song is a longer “dramatico-musical” work, such as an opera, ballet, or musical, you should license the full work from the publisher or one of several licensing agencies, such as Tams-Witmark Music Library or Rodgers & Hammerstein Library. Some publishers of shorter musicals for elementary or middle grades may offer a package that includes performance rights with the music.
- Works Performed at MENC Events — If your musical performance is part of an MENC event or state conference, you don’t need a license. Performances with the support of MENC, or by state units of MENC, are covered under a blanket license paid each year by MENC to ASCAP and BMI for compositions licensed by those agencies.
Things to Remember
If you have not yet acquired a license to record the music, you will need a “mechanical license” for making a CD. You can get this license from the Harry Fox Agency through their searchable Songfile database. Video recordings require a “synchronization license,” which you should request from the publisher. Use the Web sites for ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC to get publisher information.
After you’ve recorded the performance, you may want to end your video by presenting a piece of paper that states you’ve gotten the appropriate copyright permissions: “This music has been performed and recorded with permission from [Publisher/Agency].”
If you are arranging or transcribing copyrighted material, you need permission from the copyright owner.
Don’t forget—you can use SchoolTube in many ways that don’t require copyright permissions. We hope you’ll use SchoolTube to showcase your original lesson plans, classroom activities, and advocacy projects as well as your performances. For ideas, visit SchoolTube's Music channel.
Additional Resources
- MENC’s Copyright Center
- “Copyright Law: What Music Teachers Need to Know”
- “Copyright: Recording and Selling Student Performances”
- Additional Articles from the General Music Section
- Searchable U.S. Copyright Office Catalog
- Soundzabound – a royalty-free music library for schools
- Music Publishers Association Copyright Resource Center
- Music Copyright Basics by Joel Leach (Alfred Publishing)
- Moser on Music Copyright by David J. Moser (Hal Leonard Publishing)
If you have questions about copyright or using SchoolTube, e-mail Anne Wagener.