The information below is educational and not intended as legal advice. While we believe the information is accurate, we provide no guarantee or warranty concerning these materials or the interpretation or applicability of the laws to your situation. Copyright compliance is the responsibility of the user of the creative works of others. Consult your legal counsel before taking any action.
MAIN requires all participating groups to comply with copyright laws regarding performance and/ or use of arrangements of copyrighted music, visual images and other materials, as well as the use of copyrighted audio, spoken text and display of copyrighted words and images. If copyright violation is found to exist, disqualification may occur.
In most cases, using musical selections in video recordings requires synchronization licensing in order to comply with copyright law. Consult your legal counsel.
REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION AT MAIN EVENTS:
All Color Guard Directors are responsible for obtaining the proper licenses for creating choreography and performing to their soundtrack selection.
The musical selection(s) used in your program may require additional licensing other than blanket licenses obtained by MAIN. MAIN cannot give legal advice towards any possible licensing needed for your group. Consult your legal counsel before taking any action. For more information visit:
CLICKNCLEAR
ClicknClear – wgi.clicknclear.com
ClicknClear has a catalog of well over 300,00 tracks, including selections from every genre of music. They are actively working on continually expanding their catalog. Purchasing music through ClicknClear allows you to license and download your music tracks instantly. The license purchased includes all the rights you need from the original recording artists and songwriters.
Licenses to recorded tracks from ClicknClear include:
- Rights to edit and adapt the tracks either alone or in a mix to accompany your performance.
- Rights to distribute audio copies of the track/mix to up to 35 individual students for training purposes.
- Rights to put a choreographed routine to the track/mix.
- Rights to perform the routine in public with the mix.
Select tracks also have commercial synchronization licensing as an optional “add on” purchase if your group wishes to post a video recording on your website or for other uses.
MAIN recommends purchasing your music through ClicknClear. wgi.clicknclear.com
At this time, ClicknClear is not set up to secure licensing for songs currently not already in their system.
MAIN VIDEO POLICY
There is no video recording permitted at any MAIN event without proof of a Master Use/Synchronization License. Any liability associated with unauthorized recordings will rest with the individual or organization making the recording. MAIN does not condone, nor accept any liability for, any unauthorized recording during the event.
SONG SELECTION FAQ
How do I determine the musical composition copyright holder?
Composition copyrights are typically managed by music publishers. To identify the music publisher(s) for a particular song, you should first consult a CD that contains the song. If the CD identifies the performing rights society (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC), you can go to the web site for the appropriate society and search the database to find the music publisher(s). Searching for the song title in the databases should give you at least the name of the music publisher, and will usually give you both the name and contact information.
Search Engines
Spoken Word / Literary Copyrights
Spoken word – Including movie quotes, and literary quotations, may contain copyrighted content. You should exercise care to ensure that you have permission to use any copyrighted words in your show.
Visual Arts
Visual pieces of art, including photographs, are most likely copyrighted. You should exercise care to ensure that you have permission to use any copyrighted visual image in your show.