Ryan, you're exactly right.  The rights that you purchase with the octavo only give you license to sing the music; not to choreograph or costume it.  What you're seeking is what publishing companies call "Grand rights," and unlike mechanical rights for recording or other types of licenses, grand rights are entirely at the discretion of the copyright holder, and not set by statute or by any sort of standard formulas.

 

You will have to contact the company that controls the underlying show(s) (MTI, R&H, etc. - the same people you'd have to contact if you wanted to perform the musical).  They'll want a pretty specific description of what you want to do, and will base the fee on how much of their show you're using.

 

I've never directed a show choir, so there will be others on the list who are more familiar with the process.  My guess is that John Howell will chime in pretty quickly on this, and he's done quite a bit of this sort of thing.  However, it seems to me that a more general sort of show choir-type dance routine that doesn't specifically act out a portion of the show might not be subject to this licensing.

Hi, both Ryan and Tom, and you were right that I'd chime in!

 

Tom is correct that if the copyright notice is actually worded the way you say (which I've actually never seen), what they are worrying about is keeping control of the Grand Rights income. But I'm not 100% in agreement that EITHER choreograpning or costuming a published medley, which is certainly NOT the entire Grand Rights work and certainly does NOT include the dialog and story line, would make it a Grand Rights performance. That strikes me as trying to bend the law in directions that it doesn't actually go (which publishers have certainly tried to do in the past!). Especially when the copyright owner has already given permission for the publication of the medley, and therefore for its performance, knowing full well that under Fair Use they are not going to collect performance royalties for a school performance. It seems to me that the circumstances of that performance should not and cannot be subject to further control by the publisher of the medley, or the copyright owner for that matter. But publishers have been known to claim what they are not entitled to in the past, and no doubt will continue to do so in the future.

 

In my show ensemble days, we did a lot of different kinds of medleys, some of them theme medleys, some of them composer medleys, and some of them show medleys. The difference is that they were almost always special, custom arrangements rather than published arrangements, and in order to stay within the bounds of copyright law those arrangements were never distributed or otherwise allowed to leave our hands. Sometimes (almost always) we choreographed those medleys (and don't forget that simply standing or sitting and singing is "choreography"--or blocking or staging or whatever you care to call it). And sometimes (perhaps less often) we costumed performers to suggest the characters they represented. But NEVER did I feel that we were infringing on Grand Rights, any more than a Theme Park Show that incorporates musical theater songs would be doing so.

 

I did run into one rather different situation. I arranged a medley of three songs for a Miss Virginia competitor, which all happened to be from the same show, and which showed off her voice beautifully. The pageant people refused her permission to use it, because, I think, they were equally frightened of getting hit with Grand Rights fees. But I suspect that it was fear and not legal knowledge that drove that decision.

 

Now if Tom--or Tom Carter, or anyone else with more knowledge than I have--can point to chapter and verse about doing SOME music from a show, or choreographing or costuming SOME songs from a show, actually triggering a Grand Rights situation, I will be appreciative of learning more than I know now. But my understanding is that it is entire operas, musical theater shows, or ballets (and no doubt plays as well) that come under Grand Rights, and NOT extracts of a few songs from one or another of those art forms. That is certainly the case with published "Hits From" and even published piano-vocal scores, which NEVER include the script or story line that turns a collection of songs into a Grand Rights item.

 

All the best,

John

Interesting comments, thank you everyone.

 

For example, the 1952 Clay Warnick arrangement of "Oklahoma Choral Selection" is published by Williamson Music, distributed by Hal Leonard with a HL item number. On the back of the octavo from HL, there is text that states the following: "This choral arrangement is for concert use only. The use of costumes, choreography or other elements that evoke the story or characters of a legitimate stage musical work is prohibited in the absence of a performance license."

 

Similarly, the 2005 Mac Huff arrangement of "I Believe" from "Altar Boyz," copyright by Three Names Music--but published and adminstered by Williamson Music (same company as above) and distributed by Hal Leonard, has the identical wording.

 

This is what intrigued me. Is this a real "rule," that applies to all choral settings of show excerpts, or only on Hal Leonard or Williamson Music pieces?

 

And how far is "evoke" the storyline or characters? Is performing Oklahoma in cowboy hats infringment? If performing "I Could Have Danced All Night" from "My Fair Lady" with people dancing on stage, is that evoking the story? If performing a medley of James Bond songs, will my men in tuxedos be considered in costume and infringing on copyright?