Scripts

[unkadug]

The Disney shows that are available are licensed through MTI. Here is a link:

http://www.mtishows.com/show_results.asp?key=DISNEY

What is your take on schools performing unlicensed musical numbers from Broadway plays.

 

[unkadug]

Having done a ton of community theater shows, It's sort of the other way around. When you license a show for performance you generally also purchase (or in the case of musicals rent) the scripts that go along with it. Just having purchased a copy of the script does NOT automatically give you performance rights. I can go to any of the licensing houses and purchase a copy of a script for a play to read but that purchase does not give me the right to perform the show.

I think they mean they purchased the "package" which most licensing house will offer. The scripts, the music, the Directors script, Stage Manager's script and license fee.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think they mean they purchased the "package" which most licensing house will offer. The scripts, the music, the Directors script, Stage Manager's script and license fee.

Exactly. I just wanted to be clear for anyone who isn't familiar with this process that just purchasing a copy of a script does not automatically give you the rights to perform it.

 

[BuddyThomas]

What is your take on schools performing unlicensed musical numbers from Broadway plays.

That's so illegal. No different than stealing. A lot of writers depend on their royalty income to live.

 

[unkadug]

Well out of the 80 schools I have worked in that have chorus.. Almost all have performed a Disney medley. And almost all did not purchase rights to use them. My dad is a retired elementary/high school principal. He says that as long as it is being used for educational purposes, a school chorus can perform.

Much like how I went to camp choir at Charleston Southern University and we performed a Little Shop of Horrors medley.

That's so illegal. No different than stealing. A lot of writers depend on their royalty income to live.

So, for educational purposes or not, it is still stealing.

 

[BuddyThomas]

So, for educational purposes or not, it is still stealing.

Yep, exactly, and the funny thing is that a lot of writers make most of their income from amateur productions. A good example is the musical "Working", which was a major flop on Broadway but which has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty income in the amateur markets over the years. I guess the moral of this thread is that if you perform or present a show, you have to pay for the rights, whether or not you are on Broadway or at the Pepper Pot Playhouse in the basement of a junior high school.

 

[unkadug]

Yep, exactly, and the funny thing is that a lot of writers make most of their income from amateur productions. A good example is the musical "Working", which was a major flop on Broadway but which has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty income in the amateur markets over the years. I guess the moral of this thread is that if you perform or present a show, you have to pay for the rights, whether or not you are on Broadway or at the Pepper Pot Playhouse in the basement of a junior high school.

Well, that clears that up.

 

[englanddg]

Depending on how it is used. For instance.. A school chorus wouldn't have to pay to use the songs. You wouldn't have to pay for rights if you wanted to use the material for a high school musical theatre competition.. Schools do this all the time without paying rights.

However, to outright perform the entire performance as an actual show for an audience without paying royalties is indeed illegal.

School choirs gain limited performance rights when they purchase the sheet music. This is why they don't just buy one copy and make photocopies (or at least they are not supposed to for copyrighted material). The same goes for scripts for theatre departments.

Here, this should help.

http://www.nafme.org/my-classroom/licensing-and-other-copyright-questions/

 

[lazyboy97o]

So, for educational purposes or not, it is still stealing.

Educational purposes is a part of fair use, but that typically means as part of a lesson or assignment.

 

[unkadug]

Educational purposes is a part of fair use, but that typically means as part of a lesson or assignment.

As I understand it, there is no "fair use" of copyrighted material when performing for an audience. So in a classroom setting it may be fair use, but once the class next door walks in it is not.

 

[lazyboy97o]

As I understand it, there is no "fair use" of copyrighted material when performing for an audience. So in a classroom setting it may be fair use, but once the class next door walks in it is not.

That is my understanding as well.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Well, I guess it never hurts to learn some new knowledge.

 

[unkadug]

Well, I guess it never hurts to learn some new knowledge.

Is that a rainbow unicorn fart?

 

[WondersOfLife]

Is that a rainbow unicorn fart?

Indubitably.