Did You Know - ascap

Why doesn’t the rental orpurchase of CD’s or sheetmusic give us the right toperform that music?Copyright owners enjoy a number of separaterights, including performing rights, recording rightsand the right to reproduce (print) and distributecopies of their works. Rental or purchase of musicdoes not authorize its public performance.Are dramatic or “grandrights” performancesincluded in the license?No. ASCAP members only grant ASCAP the right tolicense non-dramatic public performances of copyrightedmusic in the ASCAP repertory. For example,the ASCAP license does not authorize performanceof an opera or a Broadway musical, but it doesauthorize performance of individual selections fromoperas and musicals. In general, the performance ofmusic as part of a musical comedy, opera, play withmusic, revue or ballet presented in its entirety isconsidered to be dramatic, as would the performanceof one or more musical selections from such amusical or opera accompanied by dialogue, pantomime,dance or stage action. Rights to presentdramatic performances are obtained directly fromthe copyright owners.