Guidance

A guide to branding your group

It may be the last thing you want to think about when running your group, but your brand is crucial. It’s the story you choose to tell others about who you are and what you’re doing. 

For leisure time music groups and music promoters, image is paramount and is central to how you are perceived. 

Busking

One of the best things about busking is that anyone (over the age of 14) can do it; from seasoned veterans to someone who has yet to sing a note in public, the street is your stage.

In this resource, we'll talk about the legalities, collecting money and how to best engage with the public.

Why do it?

Busking is a great way to:

Committee members: Overview

A committee is a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group or organisation, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. A committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others. 

Musical licensing and permissions: Overview 

Whether you are performing, writing, rehearsing or recording music, you’ll probably need to be covered by a licence. But knowing where to start, what you should consider and what you need to do can be confusing. This resource will introduce the permissions and licenses you may need and how to get them.

Even if your group has never needed a licence it’s worth taking some time to understand music licensing because: 

Copyright, licensing and permissions - Part 1: What is copyright?

When your group decides to perform a piece of music there will be copyright laws, permissions and licenses to be aware of. Part 1 of our guidance gives an introduction to music copyright.

Contents:

Copyright, licensing and permissions - Part 2: Obtaining music

When your group decides to perform a piece of music there will be copyright laws, permissions and licenses to be aware of. Part 2 of our guidance looks at the first stage of this process – obtaining the sheet music.  

There are three different copyrights to be aware of for a piece of music:

Copyright, licensing and permissions - Part 5: Recording and distributing music

When your group decides to perform a piece of music there will be copyright laws, permissions and licenses to be aware of. Part 5 of our guidance looks at how that applies to making and sharing a music recording in either a physical or digital format. 

There are three different copyrights to be aware of for a piece of music.

Social media content: the rule of thirds

Our volunteers have been taking a look at member groups' social media to see how they measure up when it comes to engaging young people. Here are some tips they passed on to us that you might find useful.

Posting on social media can be overwhelming. What to post, when, how often, how much of other people's content should you engage with? A simple tactic to keep you on track is to follow the rule of thirds: promote, share, interact. After all, three is the magic number!