You will generally need a licence from APRA, covering the public performance of the music on the tapes, and a licence from PPCA, for the public performance of the sound recording. For more information about the APRA and PPCA licences (including the circumstances in which you will only need an APRA licence), see the section above on playing recorded music.

Note also that you will generally need permission from relevant music publishers and record companies to copy a commercially produced recording to use as a backing tape, although AMCOS may be able to provide a licence on behalf of its member publishers.

If you record your own backing tape of copyright music, you will only need licences from APRA and AMCOS.

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Many Christmas carols (including Silent Night, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World and Jingle Bells in their original versions and traditional arrangements and translations) are no longer protected by copyright, which means you can reproduce them and perform them without permission provided you don’t use a version or arrangement which is still protected by copyright. However, many other carols are still protected by copyright, so you will need an APRA licence to perform them and the publisher’s permission to reproduce them.

AMCOS publishes a list of Christmas carols on its website with information about their copyright status and ownership. The list is updated annually. http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/MusicConsumers/ChristmasSongsandCarols.aspx

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For the purposes of copyright, a hymn book is not a single “work” but a collection of works; the music to each hymn is regarded as a separate “work”, as are the words to each hymn. This is important when determining whether or not a “substantial part” has been reproduced: the part is assessed having regard to the work it is part of (such as the music for a hymn) rather than the whole book it is in (such as a hymn book).

Copying the whole, or a “substantial part”, of the music or words of a hymn requires permission, unless a special exception applies, or the copyright has expired.

The typographical arrangement in a hymn book (“published edition”) may also be protected by copyright. However, it is unlikely that you would need permission in relation to the typographical arrangement if you are just photocopying a few hymns; rather, you will need to concentrate on whether or not you need permission to copy the music and lyrics of those particular hymns.

The photocopying of some hymns is licensed by organisations listed on our Collecting Society licences webpage.

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There is no special provision in the Copyright Act that allows photocopying in these circumstances – if you want to make photocopies in these circumstances you will need permission, unless you already have a licence that allows the copying or all relevant copyrights have expired.

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If the tune is still protected by copyright and no special exception to infringement applies, you will need permission from the copyright owner, because this involves a reproduction of the music.

If you are doing this privately to sharpen your listening skills, you may be able to rely on the “research or study” exception to infringement.

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You cannot copy print music merely because you own it. You will need permission from the publisher, unless all relevant copyrights have expired, or a special exception to infringement applies.

AMCOS has published guidelines for choirs and community choral groups, private music teachers and music students which list the following examples of situations in which music publishers which are members of AMCOS would allow the copying of music without the need to obtain their express permission, provided you own the print original:

• enlarging a page of music because you have poor eyesight;

• copying to overcome a difficult page turn (to use in conjunction with the printed copy); and

• giving a photocopy of a piece to an eisteddfod or competition adjudicator or an examiner, provided certain formalities are followed and the copy is destroyed afterwards.

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