Printed Music Licensing Ltd. (PMLL) explain how their new license allows choirs to copy music legallyPMLL represents the rights of music publishers...
Since 2019, Making Music has worked with corporate member Printed Music Licence Limited (PMLL) - part of the Music Publishers Association - and Making Music members to create an amateur choir licence, launching this April. This licence allows leisure-time choirs to photocopy sheet music.
About PMLL
PMLL (Printed Music Licensing Limited) provides licences for both education and leisure sectors to allow the photocopying and arranging (depending upon the terms and conditions) of its members’ works. They have a wide variety of music publisher members – ranging from large rights holders such as Sony, Universal and Warner Chappell, and print publishers such as Faber, Hal Leonard and Oxford University Press – allowing the copying of a diverse array of music.
Are you a member of a choir that wishes to make copies of music?
PMLL launched a licence for amateur choirs on 1 April 2022. If you are a member of a choir and would like to make copies of sheet music or minor arrangements (e.g. change of key to suit the voices of your choir) then you can purchase a licence from PMLL in order to do this easily, without obtaining permission directly from the publisher. You can purchase a licence via the PMLL portal in just a few clicks.
How much will it cost?
The licence is an annual licence and you will need to pay for the number of works you wish to copy and the members of the choir whom you will be copying for. For example, if there are 30 members of the choir and you wish to use up to five works of music, the cost is £2.50 per choir member (plus VAT) for the year. A valid licence must be held if you wish to retain copies of the music made under the licence. You can view the full tariff list on the PMLL website.
How will I know what I can copy?
There is a list on the PMLL website of all the publishers who have included their works within this licence. We also have a small exclusion list of certain catalogues or individual works that cannot be used under this licence. If you have a question about a work you want to copy and are not sure if it is included, please contact PMLL.
Do I need to tell PMLL what I copy?
In order for PMLL to be able to distribute licence fees and pay correctly, it is a condition of the licence to report what you have copied. This enables us to pay the right publisher, who will pay the writers and composers of the works used under the licence. You can do this in just a few minutes via the PMLL portal. Once you have created an account, there is a simple data submission page where you can fill in information about the works you have copied.
General information
We have created a number of FAQs to help explain the terms and conditions of the licence and how it works. Please visit the PMLL website to access the FAQs.
We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.
