Simply put, Music Licensing has become one of the best ways for an artist to get more exposure and more revenue for their music.
Whenever you hear music in a commercial, a movie, playing in Shoprite, or in a training video you had to watch at work, it’s the result of music licensing. You can think of it as one party renting music to another. Instead of selling your songs outright, permission is granted for the other party to play or use your songs in exchange for royalties.
Music is protected by copyright law, which provides exclusive rights to copyright owners to perform or play their songs. If someone plays music without permission, they are infringing on the copyright, and copyright law allows the owner to recover damages if a court decides the infringement was willful.
What is Music Licensing?
Music Licensing is simply the transfer of exclusive or non-exclusive rights, authorization, or permission to another person, permitting them to reproduce, publish, perform, make translations or adaptations, broadcast, or distribute a musical composition or sound recording for commercial purposes, usually for a period of time. In practical terms, music licensing can be likened to renting one’s song or sound recording to third parties.
Examples of when you need to obtain rights:
- Use on radio or performance (including live and recorded versions of a song) in public (i.e. restaurant, nightclub, boutique)
- Use in a visual project (i.e. film, TV, commercial, online video, video game, etc.)
- Use in a toy that plays music
- Use in an app that displays lyrics
Even if your organization doesn’t make money from music use, you still need a music license and permission to play or perform songs publicly, as well as copy or make music available online.
Types of Music Licensing All Businesses Should Understand
Almost all the music you hear, and most likely the music you want to use, is copyrighted. This means that one or more parties own the rights to it. Using this music without paying the rightsholders can get your company into very expensive legal problems. In most cases, businesses will need multiple licenses for their company’s music usage, and in fact, may need multiple licenses for even just one song.
To start, one must understand that there are two copyrighted works in every recording. The first is the composition, which includes notes and words. The composition is generally owned by the songwriter and her music publisher. The second is sound recording, which is an artist’s recording of a composition. The sound recording is generally owned by the artist or record label.
Now let’s dive into the different licenses that are required for different music uses by businesses.
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Music synchronization licenses for businesses.
If your company wants to use music in a video, film, TV show, or game, you will need a synchronization license. This refers to taking the video content and pairing it with copyrighted music to create an audiovisual work. This includes using music for video posts on your company’s social media accounts. Synchronization licenses are required from both the owner of the composition and the owner of the sound recording.
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Music reproduction and distribution licenses for businesses.
If a business offers consumers the ability to download music that is not paired or synchronized with visual media, then you will need a license for the reproduction and distribution of the music. For compositions, this means obtaining a “mechanical” license. Mechanical licenses require direct deals with the songwriter or music publisher, or an organization representing them. For sound recordings, the license must be obtained through the artist or record label directly. In addition, a reproduction license is required for server copies that may be made to facilitate a public performance. This applies to both compositions and sound recordings.
- Public performance music licenses for businesses.
A public performance license is required for playing music, such as in a store, on an app, on a website, or through a live performance. For compositions, public performance licenses are generally obtained through performance rights organizations (PROs), all of which license and collect performance royalties on behalf of thousands of composers they represent. In Nigeria, the most prominent is the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN).
Who takes care of Music Licensing?
If a business requires MCSN Music Licence but does not obtain one, it is in breach of Nigerian Copyright Law. This is also unfair to those other businesses who have paid for MCSN licenses, not to mention the thousands of performers and record companies who are responsible for the recorded music that the unlicensed business is using.
Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria – MCSN (Limited by Guarantee), a nonprofit-making Organisation, representing the authors, composers, publishers, performers, and producers of practically all copyrighted music and sound recording, Nigerian and foreign, and for a modest charge we’ll grant you a license allowing the performance at your premises of virtually any copyright music and sound recording you choose. Our Organisation’s charges are negotiated whenever possible with the appropriate trade and professional associations.
Do I need a Music License?
Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) gives you a Music license to entertain your customers, guests, and employees. One of the greatest advantages of the MCSN license is that it gives you the right to perform ANY or ALL of the millions of musical works in our repertory. Whether your music is live, broadcast, transmitted, or played via CD’s or videos, your MCSN license covers your performances. And with one license fee, MCSN saves you the time, expense, and burden of contacting thousands of copyright owners.
MCSN’s customers include: Airlines, Amusement Parks, Bars, Restaurants & Nightclubs, Colleges & Universities, Concert Presenters, Music Venues & Clubs, Convention & Trade Shows, Fitness Clubs, Hotels, Local Government Entities, Radio & Television Stations and Networks, Mobile Entertainment, Websites, Retail Stores and music users in a wide variety of other industries.
Even if your organization doesn’t make money from music use, you still need a music license and permission to play or perform songs publicly, as well as copy or make music available online.
If a business requires MCSN Music Licence but does not obtain one, it is in breach of Nigerian Copyright Law. This is also unfair to those other businesses who have paid for MCSN licenses, not to mention the thousands of performers and record companies who are responsible for the recorded music that the unlicensed business is using.
Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria – MCSN (Limited by Guarantee), a nonprofit-making Organisation, representing the authors, composers, publishers, performers, and producers of practically all copyrighted music and sound recording, Nigerian and foreign, and for a modest charge we’ll grant you a license allowing the performance at your premises of virtually any copyright music and sound recording you choose. Our Organisation’s charges are negotiated whenever possible with the appropriate trade and professional associations.
Why You Must License Music from PROs
Copyright laws for music are strict when it comes to any public performance of a published work. You may not consider your business to have a public performance when you’re just streaming music through an app or on your computer, but the legal definition of a public performance involves any instance of that song being played for a significant number of people or the potential for a significant number of people.
If you play from a personal playlist, you may face multiple fines for multiple infractions from more than one PRO. Plus, if you go to court and lose the lawsuit, you will have to pay attorney’s fees and court fees. This huge expenditure could force you to close your business.
Where Can You Obtain Music License in Nigeria?
Obtaining a music license should be treated in the same manner as obtaining a basic business license. The best time to file the paperwork for applications is before you open up the space in which you plan to play music for performance purposes.
Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) is registered as a collecting society in accordance with the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. The Act provides that a person may play a sound recording in public providing that they:
- Give notice to MCSN that they intend to do so.
- Pay the appropriate MCSN tariff.
- Comply with any reasonable requests for information from MCSN to enable it to calculate and manage payments.
What if I do nothing?
Playing recorded music in public without a MCSN license is a breach of copyright, which could result in legal action. MCSN licensing staff regularly check premises for music use. So if you use music on your premises, why not help us to help you stay on the right side of the law?
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