Knowing and understanding industry terminology is vital to negotiating and working in the theatre. From time to time, we will be highlighting terminology that is important for all dramatists to understand.
Copyright owners of musical compositions can sell or license their work for uses that further a narrative or for separate non-dramatic, non-narrative uses. These non-dramatic performance rights in a song are called “small rights.”
Copyright owners of musical compositions can sell or license their work for uses that further a narrative (like a stage musical, opera, or ballet). This dramatic use of music is referred to as the “Grand Rights” in the composition, or, as the Copyright Act refers to it, the “Dramatico-Musical Rights,” and these rights are licensed to theatre producers.
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