Bespoke Theatre for Diverse Communities
Why You Need A Performance License
If you want to put on a performance of a musical play, whether you’re a professional company, an amateur group or simply an individual, you will need to apply for a performing rights licence.
Every musical in our catalogue is protected under Copyright law. Before you can produce one of our musicals, you must obtain a performing rights licence. A licence grants you rights to perform the show and outlines all fees. You should always obtain written confirmation of a musical’s availability from Holly Blue Productions before planning a production or announcing a season.
After creating a show, theatre writers copyright their work, protecting their ownership and enabling only them or their representatives (in this case, Holly Blue Productions) to decide: who may perform the show, where it may be performed and what licence fees will be required.
On the authors’ behalf, Holly Blue Productions grants a licence for organisations to produce the show and collects a fee, known as a royalty, for all performances. Built into every licence is specific language that governs how the copyrighted work may be presented.
Our responsibilities include enforcing copyright law as it pertains to live stage performances (prohibiting changes to the script or score, monitoring unlicensed productions, etc), promoting and engaging new productions of shows and to ensure all funds owed are paid to the relevant writers/original rights holders.
Video & Streaming License
A Note on Recording
Copyright law gives authors the exclusive right to control the reproduction of their work. When we grant a Performance Agreement for a live stage production of a show, that agreement does not include the right to video it because the authors retain the sole right to decide when or if their work is recorded in any way. Even a videotape made for classroom use, as a personal memento or as an archival school record violates the authors’ separate right to reproduce their work. In many cases, the authors have already granted such rights exclusively to film or television companies, in which case, you would also be infringing upon the rights granted by the authors to a third party.
It is a condition of the Video Licence that no copies of the recording may be sold to make a profit.