You are hereForums / NaPlWriMo 2008 / Helper Rhinos / Rhino-Aid / Soundtrack for your play?

Soundtrack for your play?

By Amy of the Lakes - Posted on 02 November 2008

I have been in exactly one non-musical play, though I have seen many. I have never had the beginning and inter-scene music stick with me. However, I have a couple of songs I would LOVE to use in my plays.

How does one get the rights to use a non-public-domain song in a performance? Is it okay as long as it's a nonprofit theatre? What if your play is published and you get a performance royalty? Obviously nonprofit or for-profit, the theatre gets money from tickets for the play.

I know the sound director for our production of "It's a Wonderful Life" is asking other crew members for CDs or downloads of instrumental Christmas music for the "overture" music fading in to the beginning.

Will the theatre end up trying to secure the rights to all those songs? Why do we have the right to play, say, even 20 seconds of the Boston Pops playing "Good King Wenceslaus" on a certain CD?

Maybe it's my years as a paralegal that gives me pause, but I have seen where other playwrights have used current, popular music as "soundtrack" for their plays and I wonder how one gets the rights to "perform" that music.

I would give my right pinkie to play Atomic Kitten's "Eternal Flame" at the beginning of "Brigid Kildare's Steelworks" as the lights come up and she's welding her latest creation with a torch.

But I don't have the money to give to the production company for license of the song that they'd require. And if licensing a song is anything like licensing even 20 seconds of film footage, I'm in big trouble.

I don't begrudge anyone a reasonable license fee; I just want to know what's right.

Tags

Rhino-Aid

Hmm

Submitted by josh-con-carne on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 9:26pm.

Well, I guess I've never used a song in the manner you discussed. i was thinking more along the lines of pre-show and curtian call. I know you're right and I should take the necessary precautions. I just... haven't.

-Joshua

Thank you for the diverse viewpoints on this...

Submitted by Amy of the Lakes on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:57pm.

I won't worry about it too much just yet, but there are songs for all three plays I'm pretty attached to. If the safe route is to play them for preshow music on the ones I (hope to) workshop and do full production with my local theatre, then not dictate any particular songs for preshow and inter-scene music for future productions, I accept that.

I'm hoping my plays will be not only my creation come to life but also a great experience for the actresses playing the title characters in each play of the trilogy.

Thanks so much for your answers; more are of course welcome.

Ash Sanborn, the playwriting nom de plume of Amy Hillgren Peterson. Playwright, restorative justice practitioner, life force

Thin Ice.

Submitted by isaiaht on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:40pm.

Josh,

You're treading on thin ice. In practice few labels will bug you, as any money they could pull from a small theater company wouldn't cover their legal cost, but they would be within their rights to send you a cease-and-desist, and if not complied with, could cause you more than a little bit of trouble.

They're especially unlikely to bother you about pre-show music, as that's incidental. Using a song in the text of the play, however, is something else entirely. Whenever my theater company uses a song like that, as we are right now in our current trilogy, we follow the letter of the law and write the rights-holder asking for permission. We have yet to be denied and our bases are covered.

Devil's Advocate

Submitted by josh-con-carne on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:24am.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here, and say it's fine. i've been producing off Broadway theater for years now and am quite well known for using pop music. It hasn't been a problem yet.

-Joshua

Not sure about the agency there, but yes, you need to pay up!

Submitted by karenjeynes on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 10:57am.

Here in South Africa we have the South African Music Rights Organisation, SAMRO, and they handle all rights issues like this. You should pay a performance royalty, and how much that is will vary hugely. For example if you want your characters to SING something that's in the public domain (like Good King Wenceslas) then you don't need to get a license. But if you want to play someone else's version, then you do.

Make sense? You can normally get away with a character bursting into song for a few lines, however!

"When in doubt, have a man enter the room with a gun in his hand." Raymond Chandler

Rhino Love

Naplwrimo runs on love, sweat and your generous help.

Thank you to our donors!
Machelle Allman, Holly Arsenault, Will Bond, Karen Chandler, Michael Lee, Leslie Liautaud, Jeff Mackey, Maggie McAleese, Marian McNamee, Marla Porter, and all our anonymous donors.

We couldn't do it without you...

♥♥♥♥

Navigation

NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Name
Ash Sanborn

Location
Fostoria, Iowa

Professional Website
http://facebook.com/ashsanborn/

Years Participating in NaPlWriMo

2008
2009
2010
2011

Favorite Playwright
The late, great Wendy Wasserstein; Jonathan Larson; August Wilson

Personal Website
http://facebook.com/ashsanborn/

View full user profile

Follow us on Twitter!

Every Dollar Helps

Joining us for Naplwrimo 2012? Please take a moment to donate $5.00 so we can keep the fun going. Naplwrimo will always be free, but we rely on your support to help with costs.

Thank you for supporting our community!

Soundtrack for your play?

Comment viewing options

Rhino Love

Who's online

Navigation

NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Author Info

Follow us on Twitter!

Every Dollar Helps

News Blogs

Theatre Bloggers

RSS FEED

Archive

Navigation

Naplwrimo’s mission is to nurture and support playwrights of all levels while fostering community and the creation of new theatrical works on a global level.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.::.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Soundtrack for your play?

Comment viewing options

Rhino Love

User login

Who's online

Navigation

NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Author Info

Follow us on Twitter!

Every Dollar Helps

News Blogs

Theatre Bloggers

RSS FEED

Archive

Navigation

Naplwrimo’s mission is to nurture and support playwrights of all levels while fostering community and the creation of new theatrical works on a global level.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.::.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.