The Jukebox musical is alive and well and living on Broadway. From the songs of Gloria Estefan to Carole King, from Frankie Valli to Abba, we are amidst a 20-year old trend to present pop music’s biggest hits on the live theatrical stage. Indeed, blockbusters like Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia and Rock of Ages have encouraged music rights holders to exploit their catalogues in what has proven for some to be a very lucrative market, and the 2018-2019 Broadway season continues to welcome jukebox properties to the Great White Way.
The licensing of a non-dramatic musical composition (for example, a pop song) for use within a dramatico-musical stage play (aka a musical) is often misunderstood by creatives and rights holders alike. To debunk some commonly held misconceptions, here is my 60-second elevator summary:
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A grand right is a right that subsists in the entire dramatico-musical play as a single work – not the music in and of itself. As such, a “grand right” combines the elements of the music, lyrics and book of a dramatico-musical or operatic work into a single right. A grand right is usually owned and controlled by the theatrical producers and/or composers who create the dramatico-musical or opera. When your child’s middle-school performs Annie for the ninth year in a row, that performance is the exercise of a grand performance right.
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If you are looking to incorporate existing, non-dramatic compositions into a dramatic work, for example, in the creation of a jukebox musical, you will need to obtain a dramatic performance license. Whereas performance rights societies such as ASCAP are able to grant licenses for non-dramatic performances of non-dramatic compositions (e.g., to allow your gym to play Rihanna), only the copyright owner of the non-dramatic composition can grant a dramatic performance license – customarily, the music publisher.
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Always keep in mind, dramatic performance licenses do not include a grant of life rights and/or underlying rights to the story of the writers or performers of the non-dramatic compositions. If you intend on acquiring a dramatic performance license to tell the story of your favorite band, you will also need to obtain some kind of life rights and/or underlying rights agreement.
Understanding these distinctions can save creatives and producers time and expense in the long run, particularly in this evolving and competitive ancillary rights market.
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