THE ECHO

ALSO IN THIS ISSUEShowcase:London RoadGetting paid on timeSoundcloud for audio professionals

LAUNCH ISSUE // SEPTEMBER 2011

Using copyrighted music in theatre

For a long time there has been a conspicuouslack of a professional body representing sounddesigners. It’s been one of those things we’vetalked about whenever more than two or threeof us happened to be in a room together. Wehave long envied our lighting colleagues forhaving their Association of Lighting Designers -without being entirely sure what the ALD did.We knew at least that it brought lightingdesigners into a closer community than ours,and that it definitely involved Christmas drinks!

The Association of Sound Designers has manyaims and aspirations, and these will surelydevelop and change over the coming years, butit is the creation of a sense of community that isat the heart of it. Full-time sound designersrarely encounter each other more thanfleetingly, which in a competitive butunstructured and unpredictable industry liketheatre, tends to drive sound designers apartrather than draw them together. There are alsomany who design sound more occasionally,often uncredited and without any support. Wealso work in an industry that sometimes seems

more concerned with equipment specificationsthan training us how to use that equipment inthe pressure of a tech. So we’ve created the ASDas a community for sound designers: to providesupport, advice and education to each other, andto the theatre industry as a whole.

The ASD is run by sound designers for sounddesigners. Inevitably this means that thebusiness of running an association is rather newfor us. We’ve been climbing some steep learningcurves to create content management systems,websites, magazines, organisation-levelaccountancy, mass-emailing, and many otherthings we never thought we’d need to knowabout. So you’ll see us developing how we do allof these things over the coming months as theorganisation grows. But whilst we may be fairlynew at running an association, we’re experts inthe business, art and technique of sound design.You can count on the advice given andknowledge shared. It’s all based on our realworld experience of both large and smallproductions, plays and musicals, mega-budgetand there-is-no-budget shows.

During the formation of the ASD we talked a lotabout who it should be for. In the end wedecided to create a focused organisation thatwould cater to UK theatre sound designersinitially, and look in the future to expanding ourhorizons to other forms of sound design andother shores. We wanted to create a place wheresound designers could talk confidentially aboutcontracts, fees, equipment and experiences,hence the creation of our private discussionforums. But we didn’t want to exclude anyonefrom membership who could contribute to thecommunity, and benefit from it. So we createdmembership categories for those who wouldn’tnecessarily call themselves sound designers, butwho want to be part of the community.

As we’ve started forming our association we’veencountered lots of new faces, and we’re sureour faces are new to some of you. One of themain features of our website is our directory ofsound designers, which is a place where ourmembers can advertise themselves - what theydo and what they’ve done. It’s a great place fordirectors, producers and venues to find sound

Welcome to the ASD

The Association of Sound Designers has five levels of membership:

PROFESSIONAL DESIGNERFor anyone making a full or partial living from theatre sound design in the UK

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERFor anyone working in the UK theatre sound design industry

CORPORATE MEMBERFor any company working in the theatre sound industry

ASSOCIATE MEMBERFor anyone interested in theatre sound design

STUDENT MEMBERfor all students aged 16 or over on a full time post-secondary course of study in the UK

Entrance criteria exist for each category. Please visit http://www.associationofsounddesigners.com for moredetails. Different benefits exists for each membership category, but the key benefits of the professionalmember categories include:• Appearing in a public directory of sound designers• Regular news updates relevant to the sound design community• Private discussion forums to discuss sensitive topics• Use of an ASD approved rider to append to their contracts• Access to our private Wiki knowledge-base on sound design• Training sessions organized by the Association of Sound Designers• Printed magazine every 3 months

THIRD PARTY BENEFITSWe also have partnered with a few companies to provide additional benefits to our members• 100 free sounds from Soundsnap (worth $99 USD)Soundsnap.com is the home of 140,000 pro quality sounds from the sound designers of: Batman Begins, MillionDollar Baby, Ali, Happy Feet, Star Trek, The Addams Family, Tron, The Hunt for Red October and more.• 1 hour free consultancy and 15% discount on accountancy services from KBSP Chartered Accountants• 50% off membership from Stage Jobs Pro

designers, and a great place for all of us to findout a bit more about each other.

Finally I have to offer huge thanks to the manypeople who have helped us get here, but mostparticularly to the rest of the steeringcommittee who have brought the association tothis point over the last 18 months: Paul Arditti,Nela Brown, Steven Brown, Ian Dickinson,Carolyn Downing, Gregg Fisher, John Leonard,David McSeveney, Gareth Owen and ChristopherShutt.

Gareth FryChair, Association of Sound Designers

Join now at associationofsounddesigners.com

PAUL ARDITTILike the other founder members of the shinynew ASD, I’m delighted, and slightly amazed,that this one little year has seen a well-intentioned but amorphous idea solidify into aproper, grown-up organisation that you mightactually want to join. With a decent logo too.Who would have thought it?

It turns out that most sound designers are notsolitary tech-geeks with unsophisticated dresssense, indifference to graphic design and adislike of daylight. How do I know? Because theycame in their hordes to the very first meeting ofthe ASD, and I saw them. They’re sociable,articulate, passionate and - your correspondentobviously excepted - often charming. We’ve gotthe witnesses and pictures to prove it. This ismore significant than it may at first appear. Ifwe get it right, the ASD may soon benefit us allby touching us with its wand of professionalismand positivity. So I urge you to join us, and tocontribute to this magazine and the repositoryof useful stuff on our website. There’s neverbeen a better time to prove to the rest of thebusiness that we’re talented, well-roundedindividuals with the maturity to support eachother, rather than merely to compete. Threecheers (with a bit of reverb in the surrounds) forthe ASD!

Top to bottom: Gareth Fry, PaulArditti, Steven Brwon, GreggFisher, Carolyn Downing

MEET THEASD BOARD

STEVEN BROWNI clearly remember first discussing the need foran Association of Sound Designers way back inthe early nineties when I was working at theNational Theatre and now, at last, we’re there.It’s been quite a journey getting to this point,after the discussion was re-ignited again byGregg Fisher nearly two years ago, but a solidfoundation has now been put in place whichcan only benefit all of us who earn a living astheatre sound practitioners.

I’m passionate about ensuring that those in ourprofession, who aren’t based in London or any ofthe other main theatre hubs in the UK, areproperly recognised and represented within theassociation. This association offers the sounddesign community as a whole a wonderfulchance to unify, share thoughts, ideas, problemsand solutions and I feel that it’s important thatthose working in regional theatre are given astrong voice and are fully represented in thedecision making process.

These really are exciting times for our professionand I feel very honoured to have been elected tothe inaugural board of the Association of SoundDesigners.

Here’s to the future!

GREGG FISHERAs we know, the formation of an Associationspecifically for Sound Designers has been thesubject of discussion for many years.The newlylaunched Association of Sound Designers builds onthe efforts of the members of the ASD SteeringCommittee and, importantly, all the pioneers in thisprofession who have ever dreamed of a sounddesigners’association (and you know who you are),to whom we are deeply indebted. We arecommitted to having the ASD be a participatoryorganisation, driven by the needs of the professionalmembership in all of its diversity. In my experience,sound designers have always been keen to helpeach other unreservedly, with great heart.We wantthe ASD to be your ‘default’professional community,a home base to offer ideas, consult, learn, teach andsocialise – a place where we can be open andsupportive to each other (and those training for orentering the profession) whilst also enhancing theprofile of the profession within the larger industry.

For me, this evolutionary step marks a ‘coming ofage’for a profession that heretofore has had nosingular voice working on behalf of all of itsmembers. It marks, for ourselves and those lookingin from the industry, a shift from sound design as‘discipline’to sound design as ‘profession’. It marks amature understanding that by joining and workingtogether, we can be more supportive, more creative,and have more influence on issues that affect ourwork and our personal lives. Join us!

CAROLYN DOWNINGWell here we are, down in black and white, theASD. I’m so excited to be part of the launch of ourspanking new association, so proud of everyone’shard work over the past two years to get us towhere we are now. I personally am lookingforward to the many discussions of various topicsthat will no doubt be jostled about between thewide variety of members, where we can enjoy thefantastic patchwork of different interests andexperiences, culminating in a shared growth andwider view on our beloved industry.

I have a personal interest in self education, theopportunity to be open about the holes in onesknowledge, with the awareness that these holescan be filled with the help and vast experienceof a whole host of different personalities. I amalso very passionate about the education ofnewcomers to our field, discovering andchampioning new ways in which to keep thisfresh and inspiring, passing on my ownknowledge as well inspiring my own practicewith the enthusiasm of those new young thingson the block. I’d also like to find a way to use ourassociation to offer any necessary support toother female members and to encourage moreladies to become part of the fold.

So, here’s to all who share a passion for allthings aural and I look forward to sharing thiswonderful place called the ASD with you all.

Showcase:London Road

London Road makes for a particularly interestingfirst show case for The Echo because it involvesa collaboration between this year’s OlivierAward winner for Best Sound Design, AdamCork, and previous two-time Olivier Awardwinner, Paul Arditti. It is also interesting due toits innovative form. Alecky Blythe is an exponentof verbatim theatre. Her theatre company,Recorded Delivery, has created six previousshows using this technique since 2003. Eachshow has involved interviewing people onlocation: their front room, on a street corner, etc,and recording those interviews with adictaphone. These interviews then form part ofthe writing process for Alecky – who edits andstructures them into a dramatic work. Inprevious shows the performers would eachwear headphones which played back theinterviews and would then mimic the recordingas closely as possible, including the hesitations,coughs and stutters. The desire is for aperformance that captures the energy of theinterviewee as closely as possible, warts and all,because those warts often carry a sense ofidentity, character and truthfulness-to-life thatis often missing from written dialogue.

When rehearsals of London Road began,whispers began to filter along the grapevinethat it was some sort of verbatim musical,which raised more than a few eyebrows. And

rather than developing from a long-standingcollaboration the show had been penned by twopeople who hadn’t worked together previously.Furthermore the subject matter seemed to beabout the real-life serial murders of fiveprostitutes in the London Road area of Ipswichin 2006. Clearly London Road was a riskyproposition for the National Theatre and itscreative team, not only covering recentcontroversial events but doing so with anuntried form from a writer and lyricist who hadnever worked together previously! Theproduction opened with many eyes upon it tosee if it would come a cropper. Fortunately itwas a resounding success and is just nearingthe end of an extended run in the Cottesloespace of the National Theatre.

Rather than focussing on the murdersthemselves, London Road looks more closely atthe impact of the crimes on the communityitself. Alecky’s first set of interviews wasconducted just after the murders took place,amidst a sea of crime scene tape and journalists,whereas her final set of recordings took placeduring the trial of Steve Wright.The communityhad taken a very proactive approach to the blightupon their street and had banded together, hunglots of hanging baskets around the street andformed an association that organised socialnights, quizzes, raffles and, as starts the show, a

London RoadCottesloe, National Theatre.Opened 14th April 2011Sound Design by Paul ArdittiComposed by Adam CorkBook & Lyrics by Alexy BlytheDirected by Rufus Norris

Associate sound designer/PSE: Mathew SmethhurstEvansNo.1: Wayne Harris for the initial run, then BiqueHaddelsey for the extensionNo.2: Becky StocktingMD: David Shrubsole

“the most genuinely interestingand innovative new musical

I’ve seen for ages... At last wehave a really worthwhile,

home-grown, experimentalpiece of musical theatre at theNational. Let’s hope London

Road starts a trend.Michael Coveney, What’s On Stage

transcribe the recorded interviews, and then tofind melodies within certain sections of text.Adam has described the process as finding themusic from listening really closely to howpeople say things.

Adam:“The listener hears something veryfamiliar at the outset – ‘normal speech’.However there’s a musical accompanimentwhich follows every twist and turn of themelodic line through all its (musically) anarchicmovements, and when complex sections arereprised later in a number, the effect becomesdecidedly musical.”

There was a great concern all round that usingmusic might seem to trivialise the events andpeople that the show documents. Rufus Norris,the director, was very keen to keep the transitionsbetween the spoken and the sung words asimperceptible as possible. At the start of LondonRoad you’re not aware that it is a musical, with aseamless transition between underscored spokendialogue and musical numbers.

Paul:“I was very keen to keep the amplificationas natural as possible at all times.The radio micamplification maintains a consistent margin ofvolume over the music, whenever it creeps in, soyou’re not too aware of it. Adam has brilliantlyavoided obvious musical introductions and

London Road in Bloom competition.

The show starts (and ends) with playback of oneof Alecky’s interviews with the residents, andsegués into a performer singing the same text,which reminds us, the audience, that everythingwe hear is exactly what was said, and said byreal people.

Paul Arditti explained that the recordingsfeatured heavily through the rehearsal processusing 20 channels of in-ear monitors so that theactors could hear the recordings. Rehearsals weresplit into ‘audio’ sessions, using the recordings tohone the actor’s delivery of the text, and musicsessions in which the recordings weren’t directlyused but frequently referred to. Alecky was inrehearsals full-time and as the accents andinflections are so crucial she would update thescript by editing the recordings on her laptop inAdobe Audition. CD’s were burnt on a daily basisfor the actors to take away and learn.

Adam’s music has been written in response tothe recordings, musically replicating some of thecomplex rhythmic patterns that can emergefrom the cadence and hesitations that occur ineveryday speech.“Begonias and... Petunias and...um, Impatience ‘n’ things” being the closest towhat one would describe as the hook in one ofthe early songs. It was a huge task for Adam to

add atmospheres to enhance scenes andlocations. With many scenes in differentlocations, cross-fading and cross-cutting witheach other, Paul felt that the atmos wasunhelpful and so the acoustic (and physical)scenery was kept to a minimum. He was alsokeen to leave a “clean acoustic palate for Adam’smusic to flavour”!

Adam:“One of the many great things aboutworking with Paul is that he effortlessly makesthe band and voices sound perfect. Paulaugmented this with some wonderfulatmospheric sound design, sometimesjuxtaposed with the songs and sometimeswithin the scenes.”

Paul was equally complimentary about Adam, soclearly a successful first collaboration together:

Paul:“I think Adam is staggeringly talented, andI wanted my contribution to be worthy of him.And from the first time I heard Adam’s(irritatingly well-sung and smoothly produced)music demos, I knew that I had hitherto onlyseen the tip of Adam’s musical talent.“

Paul Arditti has a long-standing collaborationwith director Rufus Norris, almost alwaysinvolving significant musical content, andusually with radio mics and live instruments.

worked hard to keep loud acoustic instrumentsto a minimum in his arrangements. Paul addedto the existing Cottesloe sound system threecentre clusters of six d&b T10s in theauditorium, to serve each of the three mainaudience sections.

Paul:“It was vital to have even coverage, sousing compact line arrays with a wide enoughhorizontal dispersion to cover the seats, evenwith the very short throw distances, and veryprecise vertical coverage, enabled me to getaudio to the audience without it splashing backinto the mics. There are quite a lot of sneakysidefills and delays to fill in the gaps wherecoverage drops.”

For a show that is rooted in location recordingsfrom the Ipswich area, there is very littlenaturalistic atmos used throughout the piece.Adam and Alecky initially encouraged Paul to

buttons on the end of numbers.The dialogueand the lyrics are essentially the same material,and the music washes in and around the words”

Act One feels seamless with songs andunderscoring seguéing continuously throughout,whereas Act Two has longer dialogue-basedscenes intervening between songs:

Adam:“The difficulty when tackling a serioussubject using music is that music has always hada lot to do with the experience of pleasure, even ifit carries serious thought or argument orcharacter detail. Music also feels ritualistic in itsinevitable repetitions, and balancing the momentsof thought/music/ritual against moments ofthought and character as naked speech was theright decision for the second half.”

To make the creative team’s challenge evengreater, the staging is in thrust with theaudience on three sides, and on three levels. TheCottesloe has no proscenium to speak of so theperformers perform up to the feet of theaudience in the first row. The band - twokeyboards, an electronic drum kit, electric guitar,acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and three reeds - allsit on a platform upstage separated from theplaying space by the scenery which providesenough acoustic separation for Paul to havealmost 100% control over the band levels. Adam

“groundbreaking… the wholeconcept might sound deeply

dodgy, but somehow it works,combining humour and

compassion with whatWordsworth called ‘the still sad

music of humanity’”Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph

Before the London Road set was designed, Pauland Rufus discussed the location of the band,and the format of the auditorium, and whatthose things would mean for the sound system.Paul explained that Rufus is very savvy, andknows how important it is to get certainphysical things right at the beginning, so thatthe sound designer has a fighting chance lateron of getting the sound to work as it should.

Paul:“Rufus trusts me to get on with things. Hedoesn’t micro-manage, or give me reams ofnotes concerning missed pickups or overlouddrums. He knows that I’ll already have the samenotes. It’s a great relationship, and gives us bothspace to work together on the things that needimproving and changing in the show.”

With such a new form, the first preview ofLondon Road was always going to be an excitingone, and many eyes were upon it to see how theaudience would react to what appears on paperto be such a bizarre proposition.

Paul:“The first preview of London Road wasprobably the most astounding first preview Ihave ever witnessed. All of the creative teambelieved in the show, but we genuinely had noidea whether it would work with an audience. Itwas all so untried. From the first few notes itwas obvious that the audience loved it, and the

show’s popularity was assured from then on.“

“On the other hand, the vocal mix, bandbalance, and sound effects operation were verymuch work in progress. The first preview wasvery quiet, band-wise, because we were mostconcerned about vocal comprehensibility. Therewas little or no reverb on the voices, because Iwas keen that they sounded unamplified. As weprogressed through the previews, we carried outthe combination of rebalancing, technical fault-finding, reworking, adding, subtracting andlearning that is the process in any new musical.”

Adam:“The first preview was extraordinary. Ioften find the first preview to be a more excitingshow than any other, because the cast and bandand everyone else working on the show isexperiencing car-crash adrenaline and they’re allknackered after the tech.The first preview had agreat quality of vulnerability as well, because thematerial was still finding its feet.We seemed tolose that around preview three when the showreally clicked into place and vulnerability wasusurped by a mastery of the material which wasalmost too dominating, given the subject matter.By press we had settled into a happy balancebetween both - the cast and band’s knowledgeof the score and familiarity with performing theshow was such that they could allow it to beboth vulnerable and controlled.”

SPEECH TO SONG

Diana Deutsch, anAmerican psychologisthas spent a lot of timestudying the often-blurred boundarybetween music andspoken language.

Her audio demonstration“Suddenly behaves sostrangely” has become aclassic example of thephenomena where therepetition of text canmake it musical.

For more on this, visit:http://philomel.com/asa156th/deutsch.html

All images: Helen Warner

Using copyrighted music in theatre in the UKThere are 2 bodies dealing with clearance of copyright for music in the UK: PRS for Music and PPL.

PRS for Music collect royalties for the people who published the music of the song. This is usually the song’scomposers, their estate or their publishers, not the performers. PPL collects royalties for the owner of therecording of a song. This is usually the performers of the music, or their estate or record company. If you areperforming a song live, or quoting the lyrics of a song, you need to obtain permission from PRS. If you areplaying someone else’s recording of a song, you need to obtain permission from PRS and PPL.

This article was fact checked by PRS For Music and by PPL, August 2011

PRS for Music PRS for Music have a Tariff T for Theatre usage.All fees below are ex VAT. A theatre can obtainlicenses that cover the following:

An annual OEX Music license covering Overture,entr’acte and exit music (Pre- and Post-showmusic) but does not cover the use of music inthe foyer and bar. This license costs between£123.20 and £739.16 depending on the size andtype of the theatre. A weekly license coveringIncidental (underscoring) or curtain music. Thislicense costs between £7.84 and £30.89.

These first two licenses are for venues ratherthan for a production, and most establishedvenues have these licenses in place. Licenses canbe obtained for temporary venues. Typically aPRS Form is filled out for each production, thatdetails what musical pieces are played, for howlong and what category they fall into. This is sothat PRS can determine how much to charge

talk to the PRS as soon as possible.

The idea is that you should contact PRS forMusic at least 28 days before the firstperformance with a list of interpolated musicand details of the production. A Dramatic RightsClearance Application can be obtained bycontacting PRS’s Concert Sales department on0845 300 60 33. PRS then contact the licenseholder – the Publisher - who might be thecomposer, their estate or their record company -to seek permission to license the music for usein the production. Some license holders won’tmind and permission will be granted for use ofthe music through PRS at the rates below. OrPRS will contact you you and inform you thatyou need to arrange permission directly fromthe music publisher. This can be an arduousprocess. The publisher may want moreinformation including script extracts andcontext of how their music is being used. Theyare free to set whatever price they like. Somepublishing companies are very interested in filmand TV usage as this gets large financial returnsfor them. Consequently they may try and applythose extremely high rates to your theatreproduction. Or they may have no interest intheatre, knowing that there’s not a high returnto be seen so they may not even reply - in thisinstance one can claim that you have used “bestendeavors” to contact the rights holder. For

you, and how much money to give to whichartists. Example forms can be found in the ASDwebsite. The PRS form is typically filled out bythe show’s producer, though sometimes thevenue will do this given sufficient information.

There exists a third category called Interpolatedmusic. This refers to any music that can beheard by or are performed by the characters ofthe production, or that the characters reference.This is the trickiest category to obtainpermission for as PRS is not able to grantpermission for all music tracks. Some artistshave stipulated that their musical works cannotbe used in film, TV, theatre, either at all, or withcertain conditions, i.e. they don’t want theirmusic to be used to endorse a product or beused in a way that they don’t like, for exampleto be used in a scene with drug abuse. If youwish to use music by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix,Michael Jackson, Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, RichardRogers or anything Disney related you should

these reasons it is best to try and obtainclearance for interpolated music as far inadvance as possible, particularly if a track isparticularly integral to a performance.

Of course it is often the reality that no-oneknows exactly what music is going to be usedand how long it is going to be played for until afew days or even hours before the firstperformance. It is a copyright infringement toperform, or play a performance of a musicalwork without clearance, but one that out ofnecessity a lot of theatres infringe on a regularbasis. A higher rate is therefore charged for allthese licenses by PRS if they are applied for afterperformances have started, and there is alwaysthe risk that the copyright owner may take legalaction. The best strategy to remain within thelaw is to seek permission in advance for anumber of tracks that you might use and thenonly pay for the one that you do use.The rates for interpolated music licensedthrough PRS For Music are varied. Forproductions where more than 30% of therunning time has interpolated music controlledby PRS For Music, the rate varies from 1% to 9%of net box office receipts. For productions whereless than 30% of the running time hasinterpolated music controlled by PRS, the costper performance is shown in Fig.1.This is the standard royalty for a West End

theatre with less than 1001 seats. These rates areincreased or decreased for different size andtheatre types. For example a non-West Endtheatre with less than 1001 seats will have therates decreased by 12%.

PRS for Music does not control the rights forballets, opera, panto or musicals whose musichas been specially written for them if you areperforming that ballet, etc. But if you use themusic from a ballet, opera, panto or musical inanother performance you need to obtain alicense from PRS.

PPLA theatre can obtain a flat fee license (“PPLPP031Background Music Tariff - Theatres”) of £104.06plus VAT per year to cover foyer, pre-show, post-show and interval background music. Thislicense is typically obtained by the venue ratherthan the theatre company.

There is a second tariff (“PPLPP032 TheatricalProductions Tariff”) for music used in aperformance. The fees apply per performance,based on total amount of time played ex VAT(shown in Fig.2):This license is more likely to beobtained by the theatre company than thevenue, though some venues will obtain this ifgiven the required informationPPL have a separate tariff for “PPLPP030Amateur Theatrical Productions” that coversboth pre-show, post-show, interval and musicused in a performance for £52.55 plus VAT peryear.

FIG. 1: PRS COST PER PERFORMANCE

Duration Standard rate Higher rate0-2 minutes £1.245 £1.8682-4 minutes £2.470 £3.7054-8 minutes £4.925 £7.3888-12 minutes £9.855 £14.78312-16 minutes £14.795 £22.19316-20 minutes £19.715 £29.57320-24 minutes £27.855 £41.78324-28 minutes £36.135 £54.20328-32 minutes £44.355 £66.53332-36 minutes £52.535 £78.80336-40 minutes £62.425 £93.63840-44 minutes £72.270 £108.40544-48 minutes £85.420 £128.13048-52 minutes £98.550 £147.82552-56 minutes £111.675 £167.51356 minutes and over £124.850 £187.275

FIG. 2: PPL COST PER PERFORMANCE

Duration Rate0 - 2.5 minutes £2.302.5 - 5 minutes £3.295 - 10 minutes £6.5810 - 15 minutes £9.8715-20 minutes £13.16every extra 5 minutes an additional £3.29

Finding out who owns the copyrightsThis information is usually provided on a CDinlay cover. Typically this might look like this:© Universal Music © Sony UK.

This indicates that Universal Music is thePublisher of the music, for the purposes of PRSfor Music; and that Sony UK holds the rights tothe recording of the song, for the purposes ofPPL. Be aware that if you have bought a CDabroad it may show the details specific to thatcountry - one company may hold or administerthe rights for a certain song in the UK, but acompletely different company might hold therights for the same song in a different country.

Music downloaded over the internet very rarelycontains information about who holds thecopyrights. Finding this information is usuallyeasy enough via Amazon.co.uk, Google,Wiki, etc.but again be careful that you get theinformation specific to your country.

If you (or PRS/PPL) are unable to identify orlocate the copyright holders after a diligentsearch, you can classify the piece as an “orphanwork”. Using any work without having tracedthe copyright owner still means that at a futuredate the copyright owner can take legal actionfor the unauthorized use of their work. High-profile and long-running shows are more at risk

for using orphan works because it is more likelythat the copyright holder will become awarethat their work has been used. In the majority ofcases there is little way for them to becomeaware that their work has been used though.The risks of exposure to legal action are reducedif you have made an extensive search and havedocumentary evidence of that search (dates ofthe searches, names of the resources used, thesearch terms employed, and anyannouncements made for example on a web-site on in a trade publication). In the case of anorphan work a statement can be made to PRSand PLL declaring “work still in copyright, right-holder could not be traced” and no payment ismade. Clause 43 of the Digital Britain bill wasrecently rejected. This would have provided acentral repository into which people would havepaid to use orphan-works, such that the rights-holders could collect from it in the future.

Some places to track rights-holders for moreobscure titles:The European Digital Library -http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/index.html WATCH - http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu//The Guide to Musical Theatre (database ofGrand Rights holders) -http://guidetomusicaltheatre.com/

Length of copyright and works in the publicdomainThe length that a musical work remains undercopyright in the UK is until 70 years after thedeath of the last surviving creator. This waschanged from 50 years in April 2009. If themusic originates from outside the EU thecopyright lasts for as long as the music usprotected by copyright in its country of origin,provided that that does not exceed 70 years.After that time the work falls into the PublicDomain which simply means that it is notcovered by any intellectual property rights, andhence it can be freely used, copied, sampled,translated, re-arranged or adapted in any waywithout permission. The duration before a workfalls into the public domain varies from countryto country.

This is a good resource dealing with using USpublished work in the UK:http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/2010/07/25/republishing-u-s-public-domain-works-in-the-u-k/

Editing, sampling, remixingThere is a common myth that it is OK to samplea performance or recording so long as it is under8 seconds, or 2 seconds. In fact anything that isrecognizable as being part of a copyrightedwork needs clearance, even if it is just a drum

beat. It is simplest to treat a sample as if it werethe original work itself. if you use a 1 seconddrum beat 60 times, then obtain clearance for60 seconds of that track.

Editing music is commonplace, however theforms that PRS and PPL have us submitinformation to them do not have anywhere toinform them about any edits or changes to themusic that we have made. In the case ofInterpolated music where PRS does not controlthe performing rights you will often make a dealdirectly with the music publisher.They often askfor extensive information about how the musicis to be used, including script extracts andinformation about the play as a whole and it’sthemes. Any hint that you’ve altered the originalcomposition will make a simple clearanceunlikely - you may well be asked to provide a CDof your edits or remix for approval by thepublishers, which can take a considerableamount of time or be rejected on principle. Anymusic not played from it’s original release formatdoes require the record labels permission beforePPL will issue a public performance licence.

UsageIf you have cleared your music for use in atheatrical production, it does not mean you havethe right to use that music on your website,trailers, etc. The permission you receive will

usually only cover it’s use in your theatreproduction for the dates and venue(s) specified,and any other use will require separate licensingand payments as would extending the run ofthe show or touring it.

Using TV clipsGetting clearance for TV clips is a much tougheraffair as there are no central clearing agencieslike PRS for Music or PPL. You need to contact thecopyright holder directly.When they make aprogramme they do not necessarily gather thepermissions that may be required for use beyondwhat is required for broadcast.They may need tocontact and make an arrangement with each ofthe performers, creatives, crew originally involvedwith their production. Consequently costs can behigh, so it is often cheaper to make somethingoriginal. Dealing with larger companies like theBBC can be easier than tracing down productioncompanies that might only have existed for thepurposes of making a programme.

Using music abroadDifferent countries across the world havedifferent licensing bodies that work in differentways to clear music. Obtaining permission froma publisher often will usually only cover onecountry. The duration before a work falls into thepublic domain varies from country to country aswell.

One publishing company may hold oradminister the rights for a certain song in theUK, but a completely different company mighthold the rights for the same song in a differentcountry. Some countries don’t recognizecopyright usage in the same way we do anddon’t have similar means to collect anddistribute royalties, or provide clearances. It isbest to contact a venue in that country toobtain advice.

http://www.prsformusic.comhttp://www.ppluk.com

Legal NoticeThis information is given as a guide only and is notintended for use as a source of legal, business orfinancial advice. This guide contains descriptions ofcommon practices in the UK theatre industry which, ifcopied, will result in copyright infringement. Allattempts have been made to verify the informationprovided in this guide, however the Association ofSound Designers assumes no responsibility for errors,omissions or contrary interpretation of the contents.All figures are correct as of August 2011

Getting paidon time

image: Dee Adams

If you’re a freelancer then you’re probably usedto not being paid on time. There are thoseemployers who don’t pay you until they’ve beenpaid by their client, there are those employerswho just aren’t very organised and thoseemployers who seem to have made it policy topay as late as possible.

But there are some steps we can take toencourage prompt payment.

First of all, agree your payment terms inadvance. The UK standard is “Thirty days fromthe date of invoice” and applies when analternative hasn’t been agreed. If you wish tospecify a shorter term or anything else it has tobe agreed in advance.

Secondly, re-state the payment terms on yourinvoice. Use this as a template:“Payment is duewithin 30 days from date on invoice. If paymentis not made within 30 days then interest will beinvoiced for in accordance with the LatePayment of Commercial Debts [Interest] Act1998 as amended and supplemented by theLate Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations2002. The current interest rate is 8.5% per day.”

As well as making your payment terms clear towhoever is processing your invoice, it also makesyour invoice look more professional andbusiness-like.

There are times when you just have to grin andbear it on the assumption that being paid late isbetter that shouting at them and not gettingemployed next time around. But there are othertimes when you don’t want to be quite sodiplomatic. In those instances it’s good to knowyour legal status and the tools at your disposal.Fortunately the law – the Late Payment ofCommercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 – is veryclear and helpful, allowing us to seek bothinterest and administrative charges on latepayments without any legal action.

The calculation of how much interest you areowed is slightly tricky, and the interest rateschange every six months. However there is aninterest calculator available online athttp://payontime.co.uk/ where you simply enterthe amount owed, the date the money was due,and the date it was paid (or today’s date if it isstill outstanding). If you are VAT registered, youcalculate the interest on the gross amount ofthe debt i.e. including VAT – but you don’t

charge or pay VAT on the interest you invoice.

In addition to the interest owed, you can chargefor having to chase the debt: currently £40 fordebts up to £999, £70 for debts over £9,999.99,and £100 for debts of £10,000 or more. You canonly charge this once, not each time you chasethe debt.

So for a debt of £2,000 that is 30 days late youcan charge £14.80 interest at the current rateand a £70 administrative charge.

Both the interest and compensation are payableby law – it is up to you whether to enforce thisright. You can invoice companies for interest andcompensation up to six years (five in Scotland)after they have paid you, and you don’t need tohave notified them in advance that you wouldcharge interest and seek compensation.

The simple act of sending a second invoice forthe interest owed can be enough to push somecompanies into paying your invoice faster

We’ll look at the action you can take whenyou’re not paid at all another time.

“Only one third of PLC’s paytheir bills within 30 days”

source: http://payontime.co.uk

SoundCloud is one of the easiest ways to send high resolution audio filesacross the internet, whether for file transfer or to let someone listen to atrack.

File transferWith a SoundCloud account you can upload audio files of any resolutionin virtually any format, from a low quality mp3 to a 24bit 192kHz wave file.Your SoundCloud account is measured in minutes not file size, each Liteaccount holding 4 hours of audio so there’s no penalty for high qualityaudio. You can choose who can access your sound files by emailing them a‘secret link’ and you can choose whether they can download it or justlisten to it. You can also see how many time your audio track has beendownloaded or listened to.

AuditioningWith a SoundCloud account you can upload sound files for directors andother collaborators to listen to. You can email them a ‘secret link’ so onlythey can listen to it and you can choose whether they can download it ornot. Best of all SoundCloud lets them see a visual waveform of your audiofile, which they can add comments to along the timeline, i.e. ‘I really likethis bit’ at 00:01:42.

PortfolioSoundCloud is the best place to host your audio portfolio. You canorganise your files into sets, which are like playlists in iTunes. You canupload your work and place it into a set and make it available to thepublic. Then simply put the link to that set in the Portfolio field of your

Secret link Timed comments

SoundCloud for audio professionals

ASD Directory Profile. People browsing your profile then click on the link tobrowse through your work. You can also share your tracks on Twitter andFacebook with a simple click. Have a look at this example:http://soundcloud.com/garethfry/sets/portfolio-1

Uploading filesYou can upload files using the SoundCloud website, or you can use variousthird party utilities like ‘Cloud Post’ to batch upload a bunch of files.

Drop BoxYou can easily place a drop box on your own website where people cansend you audio files simply by clicking on the link.

Accessing your sound files at homeAnother use for SoundCloud is to access your archive of past shows athome. You can use http://www.logmein.com to log into your computer athome, then use Cloud Post http://cloudpostapp.com to upload the soundfiles you want to your SoundCloud account. These files can then bedownloaded to your laptop whereever you happen to be.

iPhoneSoundCloud for iPhone lets you access your SoundCloud Dashboard fromyour iOS device giving you access to all your files and statistics, as well asletting you record sound on your phone and upload it straight to yourSoundCloud account.

Portfolio Cloudpost iPhone

Issue #1Copyright Association of Sound Designers 2011

Printed by Premier Print GroupDesign by Made In Earnest

All submissions for future issues of The Echo are verywelcome. They may be edited to fit the house styleand for length.

Adverts can be purchased by any corporate memberof the ASD, rates on request.

Views expressed editorially or by correspondants arenot necessariily those of the ASD.

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