Dance Recital Question

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[Tyler Groom] “I thought I might, because they will be dancing to copyrighted music. So I am okay to just do it or do I need to get some kind of clearance, or are they liable for performing it in the first place? Thanks”

An age-old question.

The dance-instructor/recital producer are responsible for securing the Public Performance rights of any music used at the show.
These rights are attached to the use of the material played-back for a larger group of people other than a few people in a private home space.
These are similar to the kind of rights a business owner must secure to play music in his place of business.

WILL the dance instructor/recital producer secure these rights?
Based on most cases, it is highly unlikely that they will bother to do that.

BUT-

Regardless of whether they do or don’t secure the Public performance rights for the “live” show,
YOUR issue is in regard to “Reproduction rights” and “Synchronization rights” of the “recorded” show.

“Synchronization rights” relate to YOUR creating a “new work” (your video of the show) that synchronizes the writer’s music to the video of the dancers on the stage.

“Reproduction rights” relate to your making copies of the works as you make copies of your video of the show.

Potentially complex, time-consuming and expensive issues to resolve before you make your video available for sale… or, yes, even if you give them away.

And WILL most video recording services and individuals bother to do this?
Based on most cases, highly unlikely.

So, its up to you to decide if the risk of copyright litigation is too slight to worry about,
or if the risk is too serious to ignore.

[Peter Ralph]

If the dancers are dancing to a series of songs chosen by the dance instructor you shouldn’t have any problems.

But if the performance is based on a purchased script there will almost certainly be contractual restrictions regarding recording and specified damages if you ignore those restrictions.

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[Peter Ralph] “If the dancers are dancing to a series of songs chosen by the dance instructor you shouldn’t have any problems.
“

The videographer is the one who shoots the pictures and sound together and makes the copies.

[Mark Suszko]

Blume’s answer here is the most accurate IMO.