What is a Synch Licence?
A synchronisation licence is an upfront payment made to a composer or copyright-holder, when music owned by the copyright holder is combined (synchronised) with moving images. These range from amateur videos of people playing, streamed live on YouTube or Facebook, to pre-recorded professional televisual and cinematic imagery.
Why is an Upfront Synchronisation Payment Required?
In order that the use of the music be subjected to a time-limited, mutually-agreed and understood contract; and because any royalty payments remitted via the PRS, ASCAP, etc. frequently do not reach the necessary level of remuneration. Likewise, any streaming payments made by website hosts such as YouTube may not be passed on to the composer by the channel owner who is broadcasting the video. Therefore the synchronisation licence represents an advance upon and/or buy-out of streaming royalties.
Althea Talbot-Howard/Pantokrator Publications – Synch Licensing
A significant proportion of my early professional-level composing and transcribing was done without a commission – for the common artistic good. This involved a great deal of work. Therefore, synch licensing is an important means by which I can be recompensed for my labour, as a freelance composer.
Educational & Self-promotional WAIVERS
Synch licences are required for all streamed performances, with the exception of performances streamed from an educational setting – e.g. a university faculty or student recital, a conservatoire recital or masterclass, or conference recital or lecture-recital streamed from an educational venue. No payment is required for such videos, as long as entry to the live performance is free. Self-promotional videos covered by the terms of the PDF licence (see red section below) are also exempted.
However, live-streamed concerts from non-educational settings (public concert halls, churches' own concert series, etc.) - and concerts which release a video recording after the event (whether they charge for entry or not) - do require a licence. The fees charged are determined by the profit status of the concert, and the size and type of venue. The streaming licence for concerts in churches is normally less than that for concerts streamed from a major concert hall, for example.
The types of production listed above require a synch. licence - whether they charge for tickets or not, and irrespective of venue - because any decision not to charge for entry or viewing is an organisational decision to which I, as the composer, was not party. In such cases, the cost of the synch licence may need to be met by donations or sponsorship.
‘Online streaming’ includes websites and social media.
The costs of my licences are modest, in comparison with many composers’ synch fees.
Important Note
My PDF scores - sold directly to performers - spell out the need for a synch. licence in the Terms and Conditions. The performer’s PDF licence only permits live performance in any setting: and self-promotional video-making. Please see the Terms and Conditions below, if you require verification of this.
A synchronisation licence is an upfront payment made to a composer or copyright-holder, when music owned by the copyright holder is combined (synchronised) with moving images. These range from amateur videos of people playing, streamed live on YouTube or Facebook, to pre-recorded professional televisual and cinematic imagery.
Why is an Upfront Synchronisation Payment Required?
In order that the use of the music be subjected to a time-limited, mutually-agreed and understood contract; and because any royalty payments remitted via the PRS, ASCAP, etc. frequently do not reach the necessary level of remuneration. Likewise, any streaming payments made by website hosts such as YouTube may not be passed on to the composer by the channel owner who is broadcasting the video. Therefore the synchronisation licence represents an advance upon and/or buy-out of streaming royalties.
Althea Talbot-Howard/Pantokrator Publications – Synch Licensing
A significant proportion of my early professional-level composing and transcribing was done without a commission – for the common artistic good. This involved a great deal of work. Therefore, synch licensing is an important means by which I can be recompensed for my labour, as a freelance composer.
Educational & Self-promotional WAIVERS
Synch licences are required for all streamed performances, with the exception of performances streamed from an educational setting – e.g. a university faculty or student recital, a conservatoire recital or masterclass, or conference recital or lecture-recital streamed from an educational venue. No payment is required for such videos, as long as entry to the live performance is free. Self-promotional videos covered by the terms of the PDF licence (see red section below) are also exempted.
However, live-streamed concerts from non-educational settings (public concert halls, churches' own concert series, etc.) - and concerts which release a video recording after the event (whether they charge for entry or not) - do require a licence. The fees charged are determined by the profit status of the concert, and the size and type of venue. The streaming licence for concerts in churches is normally less than that for concerts streamed from a major concert hall, for example.
The types of production listed above require a synch. licence - whether they charge for tickets or not, and irrespective of venue - because any decision not to charge for entry or viewing is an organisational decision to which I, as the composer, was not party. In such cases, the cost of the synch licence may need to be met by donations or sponsorship.
‘Online streaming’ includes websites and social media.
The costs of my licences are modest, in comparison with many composers’ synch fees.
Important Note
My PDF scores - sold directly to performers - spell out the need for a synch. licence in the Terms and Conditions. The performer’s PDF licence only permits live performance in any setting: and self-promotional video-making. Please see the Terms and Conditions below, if you require verification of this.
HOW TO PURCHASE A LICENCE
Please send a message via the Score Purchase & Contact Page, outlining the nature, date, time & place of your to-be-broadcast concert. Many thanks.
Please send a message via the Score Purchase & Contact Page, outlining the nature, date, time & place of your to-be-broadcast concert. Many thanks.
THE ARTIST'S PDF LICENCE
General Guidance
You are receiving a personalised, secure PDF score, which gives you the right to print out the piece and perform it live or on video, in a number of contexts.
This score is the Composer's Edition.
As you are receiving PDFs from a living composer, rather than a single, printed-out score from a dead one, there are some complications with regards to copyright, performing rights and royalties that don’t exist for most paper scores.
In order to make this as clear as possible, please read the guidelines to use, below. Acceptance of this score signals agreement with these terms.
Terms and Conditions of Use
YES
1. Printing off a copy or copies for you, any members of your household who might also want to play it: and your pianist.
2. Loading it onto your iPads.
3. Performing it live in ANY normal concert venue – from your local shopping mall, library, church, community centre, school or music school - to Carnegie Hall! Whether amateur or professional, you have my full permission to play this piece in any appropriate concert venue, at any time. Please let me know if you have any professional public performances scheduled, as not only is that very exciting for me, but I will need to enter the performance into the PRS database, for royalty collection.
4. Performing it on video in a personal, non-commercial or self-promotional context which does not involve a third-party concert promoter: e.g. for display on your YouTube channel; or for a competition or audition entry. For example, a private video-recording of one of my pieces which you and a pianist make in a church, without an audience, for display on your YouTube channel is NOT the same thing as your giving an official concert in a church, as part of a concert series, which is streamed - or released afterwards as a concert video - by a concert promoter. In short, I am waiving my synchronisation fee for you: but I am not waiving it for a concert promoter.
NO
1. Printing off any copies for anyone outside your household, other than your duo partner (pianist). This would be a breach of my copyright. If your pupils or colleagues want a copy, please give them my contact information, so that they can purchase one from me. I will aim to turn their order around as quickly as possible.
2. Making a commercial recording via audio (CD) or video, without discussing the matter with me first - because commercial recording rights are not included in this transaction. But, please feel free to let me know if you have any interest in this direction, so that we can talk it through. Many thanks.
3. Having your live recital recorded by a radio station, television, record or streaming company, without letting me know first. I need to be informed, for PRS/ASCAP royalty collection purposes. Your concert promoter will need to contact me via my website, in order to negotiate a synchronisation fee in the event of a live-streamed performance or post-concert video release. This licence is primarily the promoter's or venue's responsibility - not yours: but you must still inform them that a licence is required. N.B. WAIVER: Performances live-streamed from educational venues (universities, conservatoires, etc.) do NOT require a synchronisation licence, as long as entry is free. This applies to faculty, as well as student, recitals.
I do hope this helps clarify any questions you might have. Please feel free to enquire further, if you need to.
Additional Works
Please visit the Featured Works menu on my website. You can also utilise the repertoire list attached below. www.althea-composer.com
Social Media
You are invited to subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/@altheatalbothoward, in order to be directly notified of new videos, as I make them public.
https://www.instagram.com/altheatalbothoward/
https://www.facebook.com/althea.talbothoward & https://www.facebook.com/composerandperformer/
General Guidance
You are receiving a personalised, secure PDF score, which gives you the right to print out the piece and perform it live or on video, in a number of contexts.
This score is the Composer's Edition.
As you are receiving PDFs from a living composer, rather than a single, printed-out score from a dead one, there are some complications with regards to copyright, performing rights and royalties that don’t exist for most paper scores.
In order to make this as clear as possible, please read the guidelines to use, below. Acceptance of this score signals agreement with these terms.
Terms and Conditions of Use
YES
1. Printing off a copy or copies for you, any members of your household who might also want to play it: and your pianist.
2. Loading it onto your iPads.
3. Performing it live in ANY normal concert venue – from your local shopping mall, library, church, community centre, school or music school - to Carnegie Hall! Whether amateur or professional, you have my full permission to play this piece in any appropriate concert venue, at any time. Please let me know if you have any professional public performances scheduled, as not only is that very exciting for me, but I will need to enter the performance into the PRS database, for royalty collection.
4. Performing it on video in a personal, non-commercial or self-promotional context which does not involve a third-party concert promoter: e.g. for display on your YouTube channel; or for a competition or audition entry. For example, a private video-recording of one of my pieces which you and a pianist make in a church, without an audience, for display on your YouTube channel is NOT the same thing as your giving an official concert in a church, as part of a concert series, which is streamed - or released afterwards as a concert video - by a concert promoter. In short, I am waiving my synchronisation fee for you: but I am not waiving it for a concert promoter.
NO
1. Printing off any copies for anyone outside your household, other than your duo partner (pianist). This would be a breach of my copyright. If your pupils or colleagues want a copy, please give them my contact information, so that they can purchase one from me. I will aim to turn their order around as quickly as possible.
2. Making a commercial recording via audio (CD) or video, without discussing the matter with me first - because commercial recording rights are not included in this transaction. But, please feel free to let me know if you have any interest in this direction, so that we can talk it through. Many thanks.
3. Having your live recital recorded by a radio station, television, record or streaming company, without letting me know first. I need to be informed, for PRS/ASCAP royalty collection purposes. Your concert promoter will need to contact me via my website, in order to negotiate a synchronisation fee in the event of a live-streamed performance or post-concert video release. This licence is primarily the promoter's or venue's responsibility - not yours: but you must still inform them that a licence is required. N.B. WAIVER: Performances live-streamed from educational venues (universities, conservatoires, etc.) do NOT require a synchronisation licence, as long as entry is free. This applies to faculty, as well as student, recitals.
I do hope this helps clarify any questions you might have. Please feel free to enquire further, if you need to.
Additional Works
Please visit the Featured Works menu on my website. You can also utilise the repertoire list attached below. www.althea-composer.com
Social Media
You are invited to subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/@altheatalbothoward, in order to be directly notified of new videos, as I make them public.
https://www.instagram.com/altheatalbothoward/
https://www.facebook.com/althea.talbothoward & https://www.facebook.com/composerandperformer/
