Below are the general legal guidelines to the most usual licensing and copyright topics. Please read them through and if you have any further queries, please call Grumpy Sheep Music on 0191 239 9229 or email music@grumpysheep.co.uk. We are always glad to give advice.
Guidelines
For teaching purposes, the use of the material in our musicals or songbooks is freely allowed. However, if you intend to perform our musicals or songs to anyone other then staff and schoolchildren, or reproduce the lyrics of our songs, the following legal requirements need to be observed:
To Perform our Musicals...
Whether or not you charge for admission, if you perform a work which involves spoken dialogue/narrative, movement and drama, a Performing Rights Licence (PRL) is needed from the publisher. The PRL will be issued for the performance of a specific work on the dates specified only. It protects your school/organisation against any infringement of copyright. Grumpy Sheep Music offers two ways of obtaining Performing Rights Licences:-
a) Traditional Licence
Grumpy Sheep Music licences are amongst the most reasonable available and begin at £10. The back page of each of our musicals incorporates the PRL application form. Please photocopy and complete this form and email, fax or post it to us at Grumpy Sheep Music, PO Box 152, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7WB. We will then assess it according to the information supplied and invoice. Do give us an email address and we'll email the licence back to you asap!
You can apply for this licence at any time before you intend to perform the work. It covers the performance of the work in question on the specified dates only.
b) Advance Licence
This licence can only be purchased at the same time as ordering the Book & CD of the same title. It can't be bought separately or at a later date. The Advance Licence costs £12.50 for each of the Early Years musicals and £15 for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 1/2 musicals. The option to buy the Advance Licence online appears when you select a quantity from the Book & CD drop down menu in the 'Buy now' table.
The Advance Licence is useful if you know that you will be performing a specific musical in the near future. It can be ordered at the same time as the musical and may be cheaper to buy than the traditional licence.
Grumpy Sheep Music advance licences allow up to six performances of a specific musical only, within a 6 month specified period.
Please note, that if you also intend to make video or audio recordings of our material, you must contact us to arrange a separate licence in order to do this. This audio/video licence can be arranged after the purchase of the advance licence.
To Perform our Songs...
If you want to perform any of our songs in public, to anyone other than schoolchildren and staff, royalty payments apply. Schools generally have an agreement, via the LEA, with the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for this purpose. If you have such an agreement, please inform the PRS about the performance of any of our songs. If your organisation does not have a PRS agreement, please contact Grumpy Sheep Music directly.
To Reproduce our Lyrics...
If you intend to reproduce our song lyrics for any reason, for example for the incorporation of lyrics into a programme, or overhead transparencies, a licence will be needed. Please contact Grumpy Sheep Music to arrange this.
Video & Audio Recordings
Please contact us if you want to make any audio or video recordings of any of our material. The traditional licence form incorporates this information. The advance licence does not, and if any recordings are to be made a separate licence is required.
Helpful Contacts
The following link may be of use:
www.prs.co.uk