Obtaining permission

Where the music you seek to use - or when your intended use of the music - is not covered by the Universities Educational Music Licence or the educational allowances within the Copyright Act, you will need to apply for permission from the music owner/creators.

Permission to copy audio recordings

A letter of request for copyright permission should include full details of the material to be used. It should also state the proposed use of the material, including the format of the copying, the number of copies, the intended recipients, the purpose of the copying, whether the copies will be sold and if so for more than a cost-recovery price. Advice about requesting permission can be obtained from the Copyright Adviser.

Always keep records of permissions granted for future reference. The permission may be in email format or on paper.

A refusal to grant permission or a failure to reply to a permission request does not give the person requesting permission a valid reason for copying. In this situation any copying that takes place without the permission of the copyright owner is likely to infringe copyright.

To gain copyright permission to copy a sound recording, the following copyright works may require separate permissions.

• Audio recording : Copyright in the recording usually belongs to the relevant record company. ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) may be able to provide a licence on behalf of the copyright owner of the audio recording.
• Musical work (written composition): Copyright in the musical composition usually belongs to the composer or arranger or the music publisher. APRA/AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association / Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) may be able to provide a licence on behalf of the copyright owner of the musical work.
• Literary work (lyrics): Copyright in the lyrics usually belongs to the songwriter or the music publisher. APRA/AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association / Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) may be able to provide a licence on behalf of the copyright owner of the lyrics.

Making a sound recording available online

In the current legislative environment it is extremely difficult to obtain copyright permission to make a copy of a published sound recording available online. Copyright owners are generally unwilling to issue licences for the communication of their works, particularly record companies.

Further advice is available from the Copyright Adviser. Refer also to the general advice on this site about obtaining permission.