I’m really enjoying the Ice Dancing in the Olympic Games this year. Watching one of the routines being skated to a Beatles medley got me wondering… do the skaters have to pay royalties for music they perform to?
I was wondering that also. Btw, Ice dancing has no jumps, Ice skating has all those triples and quads.
Thx. Good to know.
First, since the games are taking place in S Korea, you have to know S Korean copyright law and business practices to answer the question.
But the quote about “sync licenses” doesn’t really answer the question. A sync license gives you permission to incorporate a musical composition in the soundtrack of a movie, video, etc. It does not cover playing a song at a sports stadium. It may cover filming a performance at a sports stadium while the song is playing in the background.
There are two types of copyrights: One is a copyright of the composition itself. This is initially owned by the composer of the song, but typically it is sold to or administered by a music publisher. Some composers may choose to self-publish. These rights are referred to as “publishing rights.”
The second set of rights is in a particular recording of the song. These are typically owned by a recording company. These are called “master rights.” If more than one performer records the same song, each of their record labels will own the master rights to their particular recording.
One of the publishing rights is called “performance rights.” In the United States, this is owned by the publisher. In most of the rest of the world, the owner of the recording being performed also has performance rights.
If the Olympics were being held in the United States, at the very least someone would have to obtain performance rights to play the song at the stadium. I don’t know about S Korean law. In the US this is usually handled by getting a blanket license from one or more of the Performance Rights Oganizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC.
What about if someone wants to record the performance with the music playing? Perhaps broadcast it on TV?
This is where a “sync license” comes into play.
They would have to obtain a sync license from the publisher AND a master use license from the record label for the song they want to record on the video. And any TV station that wanted to play the recording would have to get a performance license (also from a PRO).
Now what is this exception to the sync license requirement that Steve Winogradsky was talking about above?
This is called the “ephemeral use” exception. It is a feature of US law and may not be the case in other countries. It is contained in 17 U.S. Code § 112(a)(1). It allows a BROADCASTER (NBC is a broadcaster, the Olympic Committee is not) to make one and only one copy of incidental music at a live performance and broadcast it once. The copy must be destroyed within 6 months.
Presumably, NBC is going to want to rebroadcast Olympic Highlights shows and sell DVDs and otherwise monetize its investment in the future. If they want to do that in the United States, they will either have to leave out the music or get the appropriate licenses.
Upon re-reading your question, I realize that I may not have answered your question.
I do not know who specifically is responsible for getting licenses. Probably not the skaters themselves, but I don’t know. The individual skaters probably do not have the legal or business expertise to negotiate those kinds of deals.
Couldn’t there be some sort of service that sells music and rights for this purpose? My son creates wedding videos. He subscribes to a service that allows him to use their incidental music on his videos. He pays the subscription fee and then can download and use the music in his videos. Seems like that would be something that skaters and gymnasts could use, too. The Olympics is not likely the only time that the athlete has performed to that music in public.
I’ll just say, “Too much Coldplay”.
But, please MORE GERSHWIN!!!
I miss Ashley Wagner skating to Pink Floyd. I think that was probably the first time that I found an Olympic skater’s choice of music to be legitimately cool.
Marketplace did a story on this today, the piece starts at 3:42
Basically, it boils down to the fact that it’s considered a broadcast of a live performance and is covered by the networks agreement with the major agencies. But there may be problems down the road with streaming services or putting these performances up on Youtube. Those aren’t covered by the current arrangements.
I want to know where they find all these…let’s just say different versions of some of these songs. Death goth versions of songs such as “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and dirgy covers of pop tunes. Do these songs exist outside of the Olympics?
I’ve heard really weird cover versions of well-known songs played on college radio stations so they do exist.
I figured out my music for when I become an Olympian: If You Want Blood by ACDC. If I could keep from singing along, it would be glorious!
Thanks all.