Royal Academy of Dance Music Licensing Webinar

Our friends at The Royal Academy of Dance (Australia) are inviting their members to attend a question and answer online session with OneMusic, focusing on all things music licensing. Members can ask questions in a chat or in person in the open and friendly setting. The webinar will be hosted by Professional Development and Membership Manager at RAD Australia, Alison Homer, and OneMusic Australia director Catherine Giuliano.

The webinar will cover the use of music in your studios, demystify music licensing, and we'll also touch on the value of music and how it can impact your business. You’ll have the opportunity to ask any questions that you've got in relation to music licensing. It's a fantastic opportunity, so come along!

Watch the video from RAD's Alison Homer below:

Questions most often asked at licensing webinars:

Why do I need a licence when I use a digital music service in my dance business?

Even with our licence, the use of digital music streaming services by you in your dance business may be in breach of the terms and conditions of your end user agreement with that service. You should check with your service provider.

You may be better to consider a commercially licensed digital music service. We have compiled a list of these music services in the Background Music Guide.

I have already paid for music provided as part of a syllabus why do I have to pay OneMusic again to license it for public performance?

Organisations like RAD that provide syllabus music where the work and/or the sound recording is protected by copyright pay a fee to reproduce the music onto a CD, digital file, or other media as part of their business.

As those organisations are the ones reproducing the music, the onus is on them to make sure the appropriate rights for that reproduction are cleared.

A separate right is the PUBLIC PERFORMANCE right, that is, the right to play that music as part of your business. For any business that plays music that is protected by copyright in a public performance – for example a dance school, a shop, a bar, a venue for hire, or a gym – the onus is on them to make sure the appropriate rights for that public performance are cleared.

What happens when I film dance performances or post them on social media?

If you are recording routines or performances with commercial music and posting those videos on social media, then you’ll need to ensure you have a separate ‘synchronisation’ licence for the use of that music in your video.

A ‘synchronisation’ licence is needed whenever music is used within an audio-visual production, such as a film, TV show, advertisement, video game, social media video etc.

Social media platforms such as YouTube do have licences with rights holders, but those licences DO NOT cover “synchronisations” made for commercial purposes.

So, if you use commercial music (you know, the music you hear on the radio) in your video and that video is placed on social media, then it may be ‘taken down’ (that is removed) by the platform if it’s seen as being a video for commercial purposes, like promoting your dance school.

Getting a “synchronisation” licence for your video using commercial music is often expensive and difficult. However, you can “synchronise” music into your business videos with what’s known as “Production Music” or “Royalty Free” music. Production Music is a low-cost way to get music on your videos and when you play those videos on the vast majority of social media platforms the use is already covered by that platform’s licence, so you don’t need any additional licences (other than the initial “synchronisation” licence).

What licence do you need for your end of year events?

Watch our video to find out more.

See the great work Royal Academy of Dance and OneMusic Australia are doing together in this video of RAD member Monique Mangano's choreography of AURA by Emma Greenhill, a member with OneMusic.