Sheet Music and Lyrics
Photocopy, retype or scan music or lyrics from original hardcopy sheet music (including publications which are made available digitally from a licensed source and subsequently printed in accordance with the licence terms)
In a lesson:
The Schools Printed Music Licence (SPML) permits the copying of entire works from UK printed music publications or 10% of an anthology. The original copied from can be owned by the school, or any teacher or music hub/service engaged in school activities. ). Printed Music Licensing Limited (PMLL) offers the SPML to all schools within the UK. Schools in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are covered through central deals with the respective governments. Independent schools and schools in Wales are licensed on a school by school or Local Authority basis. If you are unsure if your schools has a licence or need more information, please contact CEFM (Centre for Education and Finance Management).
Under the Licence you can:
- Photocopy printed music publications. Copies can also be made using score-writing software programs and notation by hand
- Photocopy pdf’s of songs that have been purchase from a legitimate website
- Arrange musical works
- Upload copies on a VLE or similar secure network
- Photocopy music for individual or group tuition where that supports a student’s curricular studies
The Licence DOES NOT cover:
- Copying more than 10% of the items (pieces of music or songs) included in anthology or large vocal score (e.g. one out of 10 songs, rather than 10 pages from a 100 page anthology)
- Any works specifically excluded by the publisher – a list of any exclusions is available on the PMLL website page.
- Copying of music for collective worship. Licences for this purpose can be obtained from the Christian Copyright Licensing International
- Private music lessons extra to a student’s curricular studies
Please remember that the licence requires you to include a small credit on all copies.
In assemblies:
The Collective Worship licences provided by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) permit you to reproduce song lyrics or copy sheet music for use during assemblies and times of collective worship.
The CCLI Collective Worship Copyright Licence
- Covers you to project song lyrics from a computer onto a screen, or reproduce them in song/service sheets
- Covers a vast repertoire of the hymns, worship and assembly songs popular in assemblies
- Permits you to make custom arrangements for instruments where no published version exists
- Does not cover the reproduction of songs in lessons
The CCLI Collective Worship Music Reproduction Licence
Available as an add-on to the Collective Worship Copyright Licence, this licence provides the additional cover to make copies of sheet music files:
- Photocopy or scan pages from song books and music publications
- Circulate or duplicate digital sheet music files, for example, by emailing them as PDFs
Please remember that you must report your use of any songs in your assemblies covered by these licences. Visit uk.ccli.com/reporting