Guidance

Digital producer Leon Gower looks at different livestreaming equipment options to upgrade your setup.

What do I need to get going?

You can livestream with just a smartphone, tablet or computer. However, there are a number of additional pieces of equipment we'd recommend considering that will raise the quality of your broadcast for your online audience.

This resource is split into two sections – 'Smartphone or tablet' and 'Laptop or computer' – as equipment recommendations differ depending on your streaming setup.

If you’re sharing a recording online of your group performing music which is in copyright, then you need to ensure that the website or platform you are using has the correct licence(s) to allow you to do so.

YouTube does have licenses and permissions in place for this, which usually means that you do not have to obtain any other licenses from PRS to be able to share your recordings of copyrighted music on YouTube. Check our guidance on licensing live music online to find out how you can determine whether the correct licenses are in place.

With many groups now expanding their activities to include livestreamed rehearsals and performances, groups are starting to think about how they can make the end product look more professional. In this webinar, we take a look at Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) – a free piece of software that will allow you to add visual effects such as logos and overlays to your livestream, making it even more professional in quality.

The webinar covers:

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 19 November 2021), a panel of guest speakers look at ventilation and its role in mitigating the risk of Covid-19 transmission via aerosols in enclosed spaces.

We welcome:

The constitution will put your music group on solid footing in terms of charity structure, regulation and governance and will be hugely valuable in helping you run your group as well as helping to ensure your registration with the Charity Commission is fast tracked. This guidance explains more about what a constitution is and explains why and how you should use our model constitution, including some notes on creating a separate rules and regulation document to go alongside it.

Making Music published a model constitution with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2015. We reviewed and updated the constitution in October 2021, with Charity Commission and OSCR approval.

This resource is for groups that are currently using the 2015 version of our model constitution and want to find out about the October 2021 changes. It explains what has changed and the options if they would like to make the same changes. The updated constitution can also be downloaded at the bottom of the page. 

Making Music’s Climate Change Network brings together leisure-time music groups, musicians and campaigners to discuss what we can do to tackle climate change. We have created this open resource page to collate ideas, links and useful information to help groups play their part.

The categories below may expand or merge in the future and we suggest you look at all of them – we may not have filed information in the way you expect! 

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 8 October 2021), we look at the climate emergency and what music groups can do about it.

We welcome Ben See (composer and choir leader), Chris Hutchings (Choirs for Climate), Alison Burnley (Oi Musica) and Nina Vinther (singer and climate campaigner)

Topics covered include: 

• Practical measures music groups can implement

• The impact of group action, and the ripple effect

• How to use music and repertoire to communicate with a wider public

When your group decides to perform a piece of music, there will be copyright laws, permissions and licences to be aware of. Part 6 of our guidance looks at how this applies to live or ‘as live’ online performances. For more information on what copyright is, see Part one: What is Copyright?

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 18 June 2021), we look at the latest medical evidence around Covid-19 and what it means for music groups.

We welcome Professor Jackie Cassell (back by popular demand), public health specialist and amateur musician.

Topics covered include: 

• how and why the pandemic might end
• the science on new variants
• vaccines