Copyright - obtaining music

Making copies of sheet music or lyrics can be a tempting option when running a music group, especially a large one! In most situations you can’t do this if the music and/or published edition is in copyright. But since photocopying is a cost-effective way to get sheet music to all your members, PMLL provides a licence to allow the legal photocopying of all their sheet music - find out more here.

There are some situations in which a copy of a section of a work (without a licence) may be allowable – for example to facilitate a page turn. Read Part 3: Rehearsing music to find out more. 

See our separate resource on arranging permission

A work may be out of copyright and freely available abroad but in copyright and strictly controlled by its copyright owner in the UK. Importing a freely available score from abroad is an infringement of the rights of the UK copyright holder. 

For example, the IMSLP archive of public domain music scores is hosted in Canada, where the copyright term for music is the creator’s life + 50 years. The UK copyright term is life + 70 years, so music by creators (e.g. Gerald Finzi) who died more than 50 but less than 70 years ago may be available on the archive, but should not be downloaded in the UK.

To protect yourself from any issues:

• If you are able to hire the music you need from inside the UK, do
• If you are hiring music from abroad that is in copyright in the UK check which edition you are hiring, where it originates, and its UK copyright status. 

If you are unsure about the copyright status of a particular edition in the UK then contact the Music Publishers Association.

If a piece you want to perform is out of print you should contact the relevant publisher and ask them to print you a copy (if you’re not sure who the publisher you can contact the Music Publishers Association). The publisher then should let you know within three weeks if they are able to supply a copy or will allow you to make copies for your group. The publisher may decide to attach conditions to this permission. If the publisher allows copies to be made a fee should be expected as the publisher will usually need to pay royalties to the copyright holder. 

Occasionally a publisher will refuse permission to reproduce the work. This may be because the work has been deliberately withdrawn by the composer or for copyright reasons. In these rare instances you will not be able to obtain a copy.