Performing rights and copyright | Making Music

Performing rights and copyright

Making the most of your Making Music membership (online event)

Your Making Music membership offers a wealth of benefits. They are designed to support you running your music group, to save time, effort and money, as well as offer ideas and inspiration.

But are you making the most of your membership? In this event will explain what you have access to - and what how we can help.

Please note: this event will be focused on giving an overview of what is available to members and how you can make the most of them, we will not have time to go in depth about specific topics.

 

We'll talk about:

Location

Online
United Kingdom

Highnotes

In the summer edition of Highnotes, discover key learnings from the INCLUDE programme, with real-world examples from our member groups. Get inspired by Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire Concert Society's Make Music Day experience and explore easy fundraising tips, including the Gift Aid scheme. Plus, don’t miss our spotlight on LGBTQ+ member groups and a look at the innovative AI choral exhibition at Serpentine Gallery.

PRS: Overview

If your music group performs in public, you may need to pay royalties to the composers whose works you use. This is where PRS for Music comes in. Understanding how PRS fees work ensures your group remains compliant while supporting the creators behind the music you perform. 

Who is PRS for Music? 

PRS for Music is the UK’s royalty collection society for songwriters, composers, and music publishers. It collects fees from those who publicly perform or play copyrighted music and distributes these royalties to the creators. 

Musical licensing and permissions: Overview 

Whether you are performing, writing, rehearsing or recording music, you’ll probably need to be covered by a licence. But knowing where to start, what you should consider and what you need to do can be confusing. This resource will introduce the permissions and licenses you may need and how to get them.

Even if your group has never needed a licence it’s worth taking some time to understand music licensing because: 

PRS Self-assessment tool

As part of your membership with Making Music, depending on whether you have a licence and where you performed, you might be able to pay PRS fees through us. Even if you don’t need to pay through us, you still need to make a declaration. Use this page to help you decide what you need to do.

We are currently collecting PRS fees for performances that took place between 1 November 2023 and 31 October 2024

Arranging music - permissions

Making an arrangement of a piece of music is fairly common practice among leisure-time music groups, but there are a number of things to consider before you can make one.

Some data

From our Big Survey 2022, we know performing groups commission at least 1430 arrangements each year. 

But we think this might be the tip of the iceberg and there is much more work being done by very skilled professionals.  

Making the most of your Making Music membership (online event)

 

Your Making music membership offers a wealth of benefits. They are designed to support you running your music group, to save time, effort and money, as well as offer ideas and inspiration.

But are you making the most of your membership? In this event we will explain what you have access to - and how we can help.

We'll talk about some of the main benefits:

Location

ONLINE
United Kingdom

Getting to grips with PRS and copyright (online event)

The topic we receive the most queries about is PRS. What is PRS, how do you pay it and just why is it so complicated?

In this session, we’ll clear up some of the mysteries and help you to understand how, when and where you need to make your PRS payments, and what you need to consider when performing live, sharing sheet music and broadcasting performances online. We'll also explain the new classical music tariff, and the 50% discount for leisure time music groups.

We'll talk about:

Location

ONLINE
United Kingdom

Webinar recording: Where do I find sheet music, and at what price?

In this recording of our webinar (original event 8 March 2024), we talked about the options available to members for sourcing sheet music.

Webinar: PRS for Music’s renewed Live Classical scheme for Amateur Groups

In this webinar expert guest speakers from PRS for Music explain the latest changes to its live classical tariff. Original webinar took place on Monday 12 June 2023.

PRS for Music recently announced the details of changes to its live classical licence, which come into effect for events held from 1 September. As part of the announced changes, a 50% discount is newly available to amateur groups, making it easier for communities across the UK to host events and concerts.