It is likely that a rehearsal for a concert will be a “public performance” for the purposes of copyright law, as the people at the rehearsal are generally not there as members of a family group, but in a public capacity, as members of the particular ensemble which is rehearsing. This means that the relevant clearances will be needed.

The performance of music at rehearsals may already be covered by a licence with APRA if the venue where the rehearsal is taking place has an annual APRA licence, or if the group is a community group (such as a band or a choir) and it has taken out a “Community Bands, Groups, Choirs” licence with APRA for that year. You should check that the venues where rehearsals take place are covered by APRA licences, or that the Community Bands, Groups, Choirs licence is up to date.

If you have the copyright owner’s permission to perform spoken word material in a concert, or to perform a grand rights work such as a musical, ballet, oratorio or operetta, it is likely that you also have an implied permission to rehearse that material.

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If you are performing protected music “in public”, for example at a concert or community event, you will need a licence from APRA, even if you are not charging an entrance fee or making any money out of the performance.

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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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