Royalties and Licensing

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Every day we encounter a lot of music as we go about our lives, whether we're listening to the radio, watching a film, shopping or going to lunch, we are constantly surrounded by music. All of this music has to be licensed, meaning musicians can make money by earning royalties from their recorded music.

Licenses and their corresponding royalties fall under four different categories:

Performance rights license and royalties:

A performance rights license is a license which allows music to be performed live or broadcast. This usually takes the form of a 'blanket license' which gives the licensee the right to play the entire collection belonging to a specific performing rights organization, in exchange for a set fee. Licenses to play individual recordings or albums are also available. The performer and publisher of the music obtain royalties each time it is played on the radio, or performed live.

Synchronisation rights license and royalties:

A synchronisation license is necessary for a song to be used for things such as television programmes, films, advertisements and radio, and it is so named because of the 'synchronisation' of a composition to the required film/image, advertisement or voice-over. Sometimes, a second license is required when using a specific recording of the track, called the 'master license,' which must be obtained from the record company. Songwriters and publishers receive royalties when the music is used for this purpose.

Mechanical licences and royalties:

Mechanical licensing refers to permissions granted to mechanically reproduce music onto any kind of media for public distribution, for example, cassette tapes and CDs. The permission to reproduce the composition/song must be granted by the pub...

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...s, the £11.53 per minute on BBC Radio one or the £19.64 per minute on BBC Radio 2.

PRS for Music is not to be confused with Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) which essentially serves the same purpose. However, where PRS for Music collects royalties on behalf of the author, songwriter, composer and publisher, PPL collects royalties on behalf of the performer and record company; in most instances a license is required from both PRS for Music and PPL to legally play recorded music in public.

PPL members can range from session musicians and emerging artists to major record companies and globally successful artists, it does not cost anything to become a member of PPL.

Works Cited

http://ygynghrair.rhysllwyd.com/?page_id=257 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performing_Right_Society#Independent_Welsh_agency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonographic_Performance_Limited

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