Recording Licence (Optional Upgrade)
Share recordings of your performance legally with more than 50 families (users) or copies (units).
Please read all information below before ordering.
Please read all information below before ordering.
Description
Instructions
What is this licence for?
Want to share recordings of your performance with more families? This optional upgrade lets you legally distribute recordings of your performance to more than 50 users/units.
Your ‘Digital Publication’ (or ‘Complete Pack’ where available) already includes a basic Recording Licence covering up to 50 users/units (conditions apply). This upgrade is sold in addition to your active ‘Digital Publication’: it doesn’t replace it.
Choose your category
| Category | Users / units covered |
|---|---|
| Included (Category ZERO) | Up to 50, FREE with your ‘Digital Publication’ (or ‘Complete Pack’ where available) |
| Category ONE | 51 to 100 |
| Category TWO | 101 to 200 |
| Category THREE | 201 or more |
Whichever category applies to you (including the free one), please follow all the guidance on this page before publishing your recording. It keeps everything simple and trouble-free.
Users and units explained
- Units are for physical copies, like CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. Each copy produced counts as one unit.
- Users are for online viewing, by pre-recorded video or livestream, through a private / protected stream only (open distribution via YouTube etc. is NOT permitted). Your number of users is your best estimate of the number of families watching. The easiest way is to total the children in your cast, minus any siblings in the same family. There’s no need to count individual viewers or devices: just count each family/household as one user.
How to order
- Please read this whole page (all sections) before ordering or publishing.
- Choose your licence category from the menu above.
- Click ‘Add to basket’.
- At checkout, in the ‘Order Notes’ box, type the name of the single Learn2soar publication this licence will cover, plus the name/details of the performing organisation and venue if they’re not already in your billing/shipping address.
- Complete checkout, and you’re covered! UK schools can also pay by school invoice through the same checkout.
Publishing your recording
- Online: your video MUST BE PASSWORD PROTECTED in some way, so that only your staff, pupils and their families can watch it. Please don’t place it openly on YouTube, Facebook etc., or on an unprotected area of your website. If you do, we will have it removed as a breach of copyright, and you may be fined depending on the seriousness of the breach.
- Offline: putting your recording onto DVD, CD or USB? Please contact us for the special copyright wording to add to each copy.
Other terms and conditions also apply to your recording and distribution (see the Terms section below), so please read this whole page carefully to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Terms
A few simple rules keep your performance protected, and your licence costs as low as possible.
Performance Licence first
Before recording or distributing any performance, you must hold a valid ‘Performance Licence’ issued by Learn2soar Music. This applies worldwide, and licences issued by any other organisation do not apply. A Performance Licence is always required whenever any type of performance takes place, even when the audience is watching remotely on any device.
Since August 2022, our Performance Licences come exclusively with an up-to-date annual subscription to the relevant ‘Digital Publication’ (or ‘Complete Pack’ where available), so please make sure your subscription is active before recording takes place.
Online: secure distribution only
If you’re sharing your recording online, by pre-recorded video or livestream, it must be password protected in some way: a password-protected video, a password-protected webpage, or a secure area of your website with limited access. That way only your intended audience can watch it, and it isn’t accidentally made available to the whole world (which would mean vastly increased licence costs and charges for you).
You’re welcome to post very short clips of your performance on social media, as long as you tag us in (see ‘Social media’ below). Anything more than short clips must not be posted online in any unsecured way, including on Facebook, YouTube or an unprotected area of your website. If it is, we will have the content removed as a breach of copyright, which could damage your organisation’s online presence.
Not sure about your plans? Please contact us before publishing your recording. We’re very happy to suggest alternative solutions.
Offline: physical copies
Making DVDs or CDs? Special copyright wording needs to be printed on each copy you produce. Just contact us for the exact wording to use. Thank you!
Your performance only
You can distribute recordings of your own performance, where your cast’s voices are dominant. Recordings where the only audio is from our original recordings, or where our recordings are dominant, must never be distributed.
Learn2soar content only
Our licences cover songs, scripts and material published by Learn2soar Limited. If your performance includes songs or other content from different publishers, those parts of your performance / recording can’t be covered by our licensing. You can either edit that extra content out before performing or distributing, or seek additional permissions / licensing from the relevant publishers.
Credit where it’s due
Please always give full credit to the writers / publisher wherever possible, and never claim any part of a Learn2soar publication as your own work. Writers’ and publishers’ names must not be removed from your recordings or distributions. For example, the publication cover image must not be edited to remove or replace the writers’ names. If it is, we will seek to have the content removed.
Social media
Very short clips of your performance are welcome on social media, or on your establishment’s own website, on a non-profit basis. Each clip must be no more than one minute long and no more than 50% of any one song, with no more than 4 clips posted in total. And please do tag us in!
Broadcast
No recording may be broadcast via film, TV, radio or print media at any time without the express permission of Learn2soar Limited. If permission is given for any type of broadcast, royalties will become due to Learn2soar Ltd. Please contact us for details.
Private companies
Re-sale or redistribution of recordings of any of our publications by private individuals or private companies who are not directly connected with the performing establishment is not allowed without the express permission of Learn2soar Limited.
Your Licensing Agreement
All of the above is set out in your ‘Licensing Agreement’, which you’ll find inside your ‘Digital Publication’. Other licensing terms in addition to this page may still apply to your usage, performance or distribution, so please make sure you’re familiar with your full ‘Licensing Agreement’ before your usage begins. You can read a general copy here.
Not sure about your circumstances? Please contact us. We’re always happy to help.
FAQ
Do we have to count every device watching our secure livestream?
No, there’s no need. We know some households may use 3 or 4 devices each, and counting them all could get very messy, so we keep it simple: just count the number of families watching. The easiest way is to total the children in your cast, minus any siblings in the same family.
What if some families watch our secure video several times? Do you count the total views?
No. Lots of families love to watch more than once, and counting that would be impractical. Just count the number of families who are given access to your video (again, the children in your cast, minus any siblings in the same family).
What is the “special wording” to put on DVDs, and where does it go?
Each publication has its own line of copyright text, which needs to go on any DVD, CD or USB you produce. You’ll find it on your invoice / receipt after ordering your Recording Licence. If it turns out you qualify for the free recording licence, just email us with your details and we’ll send you everything you need.
As for where it goes, that’s up to you. Ideally, print it on the media itself, or failing that, on the sleeve or cover. We know this isn’t possible for everyone, so as a last resort, a letter or slip accompanying the media is fine.
Can we buy this licence after we’ve sold / distributed our recording, so we know the exact numbers?
We’re afraid not. Our terms and conditions require the licence to be purchased before the licensed use takes place, not afterwards. But please don’t worry too much about precise numbers: your best estimate will usually be fine. If the final numbers distributed turn out to be far higher than your estimate, we reserve the right to charge additional fees.
Do we need to renew our Recording Licence every year?
Only if you want to carry on distributing recordings, or if a video posted online in the first year is to stay online for longer. Each Recording Licence lasts for 12 months. Once it expires, simply order a new one from this page whenever you wish to distribute recordings of one of our publications again.
Can we put our video on YouTube or Facebook?
Not your full performance. Any recording of your performance that goes online must be password protected in some way, so that only your intended audience can watch it. Neither Facebook nor YouTube has a password-protect setting. Facebook lets you limit views to ‘friends only’, but that doesn’t always match your intended audience and could make your licence more expensive than it needs to be. YouTube’s ‘private video’ setting is welcome to try, but it’s hidden away in the account settings and can be very complex to use, as you have to type in the email address of everyone you want to watch it. So we don’t recommend YouTube for this.
You can post unprotected short clips of your performance on YouTube or social media (no more than one minute each, no more than 50% of any one song, and no more than four clips altogether).
So what are the alternatives? Ask the people who manage your organisation’s website: creating a password-protected page is a lot easier than it sounds, and they should be able to help. Still stuck? Contact us, as we can host your recording on a private page on our website for a reasonable charge. We can even offer your families a ‘buy-and-keep’ option so they can pay to keep a copy, helping you do a bit of fund-raising!
Why the focus on password-protected, secure videos? What’s wrong with putting the whole video on YouTube?
There are two reasons:
- YouTube and similar platforms only allow you to post content you own the copyright to, or have specific permission for. You don’t own the copyright to our publications, and we don’t give permission for non-secure videos of any performance of our works to be openly posted online.
- With advances in technology and AI, it’s now easier than ever to have an entire video of a theatrical work transcribed automatically, even including sheet music. That gives dishonest individuals a way to illegally copy our work with minimum effort. To protect the shows you love, we will always insist on the complete removal of any unauthorised content.