Electronic Media FAQ

A: This is a business issue, not a copyright issue. There is no part of the copyright law that requires you to pay an additional fee to the publisher when the printed music you rent is used for more than one purpose. There IS a copyright in the broadcast on terrestrial radio of the actual music, but the copyright holder (composer or publisher) already receives a pro rata share of the blanket license fee paid by the radio station to ASCAP or BMI for works that are not subject to “grand rights.” Even though there is no copyright law that requires you to pay the extra music rental fee, the publisher does own the printed music, so there is nothing to prevent them from asking you to pay a fee. So, your options are to negotiate a mutually acceptable arrangement (with or without additional financial consideration) or to perform a different work.  If you have questions, you should consider consulting with a copyright attorney.

A: Yes, but not without getting permission from all the rights holders, including the participating performers and production team (conductor, soloists, chorus, musicians, stagehands), as well as the composer or publisher of any copyrighted works. This also assumes that you are a signatory to the AFM Integrated Media Agreement or that your CBA with your AFM (and AGMA) local allows you to use up to five minutes of audio/video material for promotional purposes.

A: Yes, but not without getting permission from all the rights holders of the recorded music. If the source material is a recording of your symphony orchestra, you’ll have to ask the participating performers (conductor, soloist, musicians), as well as the composer or publisher of any copyrighted works (which is often included in the rights granted by performers in their live performance contract). If you want to use a commercial recording, you’ll have to get permission from the record company, which may or may not grant you permission on behalf of the rights holders.

A: You have to seek permission from all rights holders for the electronic use of an audio or audio-visual clip, even if the clip comes from a commercial recording you have purchased, even if it is short. Some symphony orchestras may be under the impression that using short excerpts meets the defined exemption in copyright law of Fair Use.  We are not attorneys, but our reading of the Fair Use section of U.S. copyright law is that the use of clips in an advertisement does not constitute Fair Use.  Our reasoning is that the use is a commercial one, to promote the sale of tickets to performances.  The fact that the entity selling the tickets is a non-profit organization does not mean the use is a non-commercial use.  (We think it MIGHT be consistent with Fair Use, if the purpose of the clips were educational or an activity that did not generate any revenue at all.)  Unfortunately, the language in the law is not clear, so it is up to symphony orchestras to decide whether their use of copyrighted material requires them to ask permission from rights holders, or take a risk by just using the clips and hoping the copyright holders do not complain.  This is obviously a risky legal strategy we cannot recommend.  In our opinion, symphony orchestras should not use the recorded content of others without seeking permission, even if they are legally allowed to do so.  The golden rule says you should not do to others what you would not want done to you.  If symphony orchestras presume the consent of others, how can they demand to be consulted about the use of their own content?  It may be more cumbersome to ask permission, but it’s the right thing to do.