Guidance

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. 

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! 

Your local community is your biggest and best source of new contacts, whether that’s members, audience, sponsors or funders, patrons, volunteers or just general supporters. Many of our most successful groups are those who have a strong engagement with the people living and working in the surrounding area. But how do you build these relationships?

The role of your group’s committee or management team (or whatever term you use to describe the group of people who volunteer their time to run your group) is to organise and facilitate the activities of the group, whilst supporting and protecting the reputation of the group and ensuring that legal responsibilities are met.  The role of the chair within this, is to oversee the work of the committee and the everyday activities of the group to ensure that these aims are achieved.

We have all experienced the positive impact of music – either as a music makers or music listeners. However, measuring that impact can sometimes be quite a difficult concept to grasp.  If you have secured funding for a music project or activity, you may be already aware that measuring impact is often a standard  requirement. However, it needn’t be burdensome. There are many benefits in adopting a simple and proportionate approach that may help grow your group, improve the impact it makes and help with a funding application.

Data protection is about organisations collecting and using data in a fair, responsible and transparent way. It puts the emphasis on needing a good reason for holding and using the data and being clear about what those reasons are. It also emphasises the need to have consent from individuals (in some situations), and the individual’s rights over their data. New data protection laws (often referred to as GDPR) came into force in May 2018.

Performing Rights are the right to give a live performance of a piece of music which is in copyright. For each performance a fee will be due to the owner of the copyright for that piece of music (known as royalties), which is usually collected by PRS for Music. 

Who are PRS for Music? 

PRS for Music is a collecting society representing the performing rights of its songwriter, composer and music publisher members in the UK. PRS for Music licenses the use of its members’ music, collects royalty payments on their behalf and then distributes them. 

Many music groups tell us they find it challenging to attract younger members. With the help of a generous legacy from lifelong choral singer Pauline Thompson, we have been able to compile a bank of resources aimed at helping you to reach out to under-35 year olds.

We'll continue to add to these resources, but in the meantime if you think we're missing something that would be helpful for groups like yours, or if you have any questions,  just get in touch. 

Discovering new music, deciding what to perform and actually sourcing the sheet music can be both the most fun and frustrating parts of running a music group.

Whether you’re looking for new repertoire, thinking of commissioning or just trying to find the cheapest option for the sheet music you need, we have resources to help.