Copyright, Photocopies, and a Concert Recording Two Weeks Out
Two weeks before the winter concert, a first-year high school choir director learns that the purchase order for 55 copies of a copyrighted octavo will not arrive in time; the piece is the finale and is already listed in the printed program. A colleague offers a scanned PDF of the octavo, saying "everyone does this." The director also plans to record the concert and post excerpts to the school's public video channel; a parent has asked for a full video, and district media policy requires written permission for identifiable student images. The district holds a blanket license covering live performance of copyrighted music, but the director is unsure whether that covers streaming. The accompanist owns a legal copy of the full score. The principal says the concert must go on and asks whether the choir can "just put the words on a screen." The director must decide how to proceed before the concert and what policies to put in place afterward.
1. Evaluate the options: scanning the octavo, projecting the text, performing from fewer copies, and changing the piece.
Read the worked answer
Scanning the octavo is reproduction. There is no blanket educational exemption for performance copies; "everyone does this" describes a common practice, not a legal defense, and it exposes the school.
Ranked alternatives:
- Emergency digital license. Many publishers sell e-print or digital print licenses with instant delivery; at roughly the cost of the hard copies, this solves the problem in 48 hours if the publisher participates.
- Borrow a licensed set from a neighboring school for the performance and return it. Legal if the lender owns the copies and none are retained.
- Substitute a public-domain work or a piece already in the library-but check the translation or arrangement, which may be separately copyrighted.
- Project the text only as a fallback. The translation or lyrics may themselves be protected, and projection does not license the music.
Perform from fewer than one copy per singer only if the license permits it. Tell the principal the cost and the timeline in writing, and correct the printed program if the piece changes.
2. What is the difference between the live-performance license and the recording/streaming issue, and how should the video be handled?
Read the worked answer
The blanket license the district holds generally covers live performance in the concert hall. Recording and distributing that performance engages different rights: a synchronization or mechanical license, or a streaming license, depending on how the video is delivered.
Options: use a licensing service that covers school ensemble streaming; post only works that are public domain or separately licensed; or distribute a private, unlisted link to families if the license permits-verify with district counsel rather than assuming.
Separately, district media policy requires written parental consent for identifiable student images, so a permission form must be collected before any posting, regardless of the music licensing. The safest immediate course is to record for the archive, not publish, until both the music license and the image permissions are confirmed. Explain the distinction to the principal in plain terms: paying for the performance does not buy the video.
3. What policies would you propose so this does not recur?
Read the worked answer
Propose a short, written department policy with five parts:
- Repertoire deadline. Music selected and purchase orders submitted by a fixed date in August, with a 20 percent buffer of extra copies.
- Emergency budget line. A small fund for digital or e-print licenses, plus a list of publishers who deliver instantly.
- Copyright guidance covering photocopying, recording, and streaming, signed off by the district office so individual teachers are not guessing.
- Media releases collected at registration rather than at the concert door.
- A shared licensed library and a borrowing agreement with neighboring schools.
Present it as risk management to the principal, not as a complaint about a colleague, and offer to draft it. Keep license receipts in the concert file so a future director can demonstrate compliance. The goal is a system that makes the legal choice also the easy choice.