The previous post on this blog concerned the new Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence for Higher Education.
However, this licence does not legislate for making copies of sheet music. This means that any copying of sheet music must be cleared in another way.
One option is to use sheet music which is in the public domain, either because the copyright has expired or because it has been released by the creator. Two sources are:
- The IMSLP Petrucci Music Library is a public domain music scores library
- The Open Music Library by Alexander Street Press
NB – when using either of these sites, check individual items for reuse terms.
It is also possible to copy a fair dealing amount under certain copyright exceptions, such as:
- private study and non-commercial research
- criticism, review, quotation
- giving and receiving instruction (could cover using on a VLE)
- 5% of a work can be copied for class room use (could cover using on a VLE)
The Intellectual Property Office has, this month, released a guidance note on extent limits for making copies of music.
Any questions about copying and using printed music, please contact us.
