Copyright

There is much confusion amongst member choirs about the issue of copyright so we thought that a re-statement of the rules might help. NZCF member choirs pay the licence fee as part of their annual membership subscription. The NZCF passes that on to APRA. Unless member choirs let APRA know what they have performed, APRA does not know which composers are entitled to a share of the royalty payment made each year.

Copyright is the means by which creators such as composers, songwriters and publishers make a living from their work. The law gives copyright owners a number of exclusive rights to control how and when their work is used. Choirs must understand and respect this. Two important rights that composers and publishers control are the rights to publicly perform and to reproduce or copy their work.

Choral Federation APRA Licence

To simplify the licensing process NZCF choirs can take out an APRA public performance licence as part of their membership of NZCF (included in membership fee for choirs, except for schools and children’s choirs that have their own APRA arrangements). Choirs are then able to publicly perform all works from within APRA’s repertoire. The repertoire is vast and includes almost all works that are commercially available and that remain in copyright. Copyright exists only for a period of 50 years after the composer’s death. After this the work is in the public domain and can be performed without any licence or permission.

The two important exclusions from the APRA licence however are grand right musicals (performed in their entirety) and major choral works in excess of 20 min duration. In these cases a licence must be obtained from the relevant publisher direct. Further the licence only covers the performance and where a choir wants to photocopy music and/or lyrics, permission must be sought from the publisher of that music and/or lyrics.

Recording and making CD’s

Where a choir want to record and manufacture a CD a licence is required. This is called a Manufacture Licence and can be obtained through APRA. The Licence is only required for works that remain in copyright and there is a licence fee payable of 5.6% of the retail price of the CD.

For further information please see www.apra.co.nz.

Insurance Scheme for NZCF Members

As a result of extensive negotiation with the insurance industry, NZCF offers a unique benefit in the form of a comprehensive commercial insurance package for its member choirs. The package, which has been developed for NZCF by Crombie Lockwood & Race Limited, Dunedin, includes:

• Public, Employers and Statutory liability insurance
• Asset insurance
• An extraordinary reduction in premiums
• Flexibility for choirs with existing insurance to be phased into the scheme
• The possibility for any choir with existing insurance arrangements to cancel its policy, claim a pro rata rebate and still find itself still better off financially
• Opportunity for choirs with special requirements to be addressed
• Offer by Crombie Lockwood & Race to facilitate on behalf of a choir in the event of any claims needing to be lodged
• Offer by Crombie Lockwood & Race to provide professional advice and support and to act as the point of contact for any enquiries or concerns

Crombie Lockwood is the largest New Zealand-owned brokerage group. They have been in business for over 20 years and provide insurance solutions to individuals and companies throughout New Zealand servicing these by way of 12 branches. In Dunedin the Group’s current staff of 5 share over 55 years of insurance experience between them. All hold current qualifications as brokers.

The insurer - New Zealand Insurance - has a claims paying rating of AA.

One master policy is issued and one premium charged to NZCF, which collects the individual premiums from each particpating choir at the same time as membership fees (an optional but highly recommended extra). The package includes two parts:

(a) Liability insurance
• Public Liability $2,000,000 (Excess $500)
• Employers' Liability $500,000 (Excess $500)
• Statutory Liability $500,000 (Excess $500)

(b) Asset insurance - Replacement for all choir assets as a result of accidental loss or damage, theft unforeseen or unexpected.

Total NZCF sum insured - $1,000,000 with a maximum for any one choir of $50,000 (Excess Standard $500, Burglary $500, Theft $1,000, Earthquake 1%, min $1,000)

The Annual premium charge per choir is - $75.00 including GST.

Insurance Scheme - click here

Insurance Scenarios - click here

Contact
Donna Gale, Crombie Lockwood & Race Ltd
PO Box 5055
Dunedin.

Tel: 03 474 9032
Fax: 03 4749459
Mob: 021 890756
Email: Donna.Gale@crombie.co.nz