Guidance

When it comes to choosing the best bank account for your not-for-profit organisation, the prospect may seem a little daunting. Questions like – 'which bank should we use?' 'what does each account offer?' 'what is the best account for our group?' – can all make the process seem overwhelming. But don’t fret! This guidance looks at the key considerations when choosing a bank account to help you decide on the best option for your group.

This resource is about planning and running events that are accessible and inclusive. ‘Events’ in this resource means any activity where people come together that a Making Music member group might run including: 

• A rehearsal 
• A performance 
• A meeting 
• A workshop 
• A social event 
• An online event 

In this resource we will be considering the general set-up of any event. 

When you are developing accessible and inclusive activity and practice, it’s important to connect with the knowledge and experience of people with direct experience of barriers.

This resource lists some of the specialist organisations who provide resources, service and training. Use these links to find out more about any challenges specific to your members or that you are likely to find in your community.  

Everyone who plays music and sings, or who is a regular concert attendee knows the value of these activities – for their happiness, health, social lives and the richness of the life of their community. But as people who organise music activities and events, how can we make these benefits accessible to everyone who would like to take part, and make our group environments inclusive and diverse?

Digital producer Leon Gower looks at different livestreaming equipment options to upgrade your setup.

What do I need to get going?

You can livestream with just a smartphone, tablet or computer. However, there are a number of additional pieces of equipment we'd recommend considering that will raise the quality of your broadcast for your online audience.

This resource is split into two sections – 'Smartphone or tablet' and 'Laptop or computer' – as equipment recommendations differ depending on your streaming setup.

If you’re sharing a recording online of your group performing music which is in copyright, then you need to ensure that the website or platform you are using has the correct licence(s) to allow you to do so.

YouTube does have licenses and permissions in place for this, which usually means that you do not have to obtain any other licenses from PRS to be able to share your recordings of copyrighted music on YouTube. Check our guidance on licensing live music online to find out how you can determine whether the correct licenses are in place.

With many groups now expanding their activities to include livestreamed rehearsals and performances, groups are starting to think about how they can make the end product look more professional. In this webinar, we take a look at Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) – a free piece of software that will allow you to add visual effects such as logos and overlays to your livestream, making it even more professional in quality.

The webinar covers:

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 19 November 2021), a panel of guest speakers look at ventilation and its role in mitigating the risk of Covid-19 transmission via aerosols in enclosed spaces.

We welcome:

The constitution will put your music group on solid footing in terms of charity structure, regulation and governance and will be hugely valuable in helping you run your group as well as helping to ensure your registration with the Charity Commission is fast tracked. This guidance explains more about what a constitution is and explains why and how you should use our model constitution, including some notes on creating a separate rules and regulation document to go alongside it.

Making Music published a model constitution with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2015. We reviewed and updated the constitution in October 2021, with Charity Commission and OSCR approval.

This resource is for groups that are currently using the 2015 version of our model constitution and want to find out about the October 2021 changes. It explains what has changed and the options if they would like to make the same changes. The updated constitution can also be downloaded at the bottom of the page.