Rights to music at sports events

From: David Ginsberg <davidg[_at_]MetroLight.COM>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 09:56:32 -0700

I made a post a week ago about rights to music used in connection with sports events, and other than one comment about sacrificing a horse to make the event fall within the exception for religious events, I got no replies, either private or on the list.

Doesn't anyone have any comments about use of recorded music in connection with athletic performances, amateur and/or professional, e.g. Olympic competitions vs. local amateur athletics?

I'm used to having people's eyes glaze over when horses are mentioned <g>, but I didn't expect to get so little in reply to my post. Original post follows:

  Recorded music (usually commercial tapes or CDs rather than   custom-produced recordings) is used to accompany the free-style   (or kur) portion of dressage competitions. These competitions are   much like ice skating or gymnastics competitions, in which the   athletes perform prescribed motions to music -- except they involve   a rider on a horse. Because a different tempo is required for each   motion, the music is usually a montage of a number of different   recordings, unless the rider arranges for a custom composition (very   rare -- even at international level competition).   

  These competitions range from local shows attended by amateur riders   (not affiliated with any organization other than the local riding   club or stable - and usually run on a shoestring budget) to   local/regional shows sponsored (or sanctioned) by a national   organization such as the U.S. Dressage Federation, to international   competition sponsored by the Federation Equestre International (FEI)   and the International Olympic Organizing Committee (IOOC). I have   attended events at all levels -- from backyard shows for beginning   riders to last summer's Olympics in Atlanta -- and I have seen dressage   tests performed to montages of prerecorded music at all of them. With   VERY few exceptions, the montages seemed to be made from commercially   produced recordings.   

  My questions are:   

• What rights have to be obtained by the rider for use of the music?
• Is there any difference in the rights required for a neighborhood show vs. the rights for an FEI and/or Olympic event (is there a legal threshhold beyond which rights must be obtained? or is it just a practical threshhold where no-one knows about local shows, so the likelihood of being penalized for an infringing local use is low, while the likelihood of being "caught" in an upper level show is greater?)
• If rights must be obtained, how do you clear them? Contact the publisher of the record label each piece of music was recorded on? The performer's agent? Or is there a clearinghouse which can do this in one stop? BMI? ASCAP?)
• Is there any potential liability on the part of the **organizer** of the event, if s/he allows a rider to perform to music without adequate clearances?
• What if the event were recorded on videotape (as Premier Horse Network did record the Olympics) for broadcast and for sale on videotape?

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David M. Ginsberg, Dir. of Business Affairs - +1.213.932.0400 MetroLight Studios, Inc. - http://www.metrolight.com/ davidg[_at_]metrolight.com or davidg[_at_]westworld.com (home) Received on Mon Apr 28 1997 - 16:55:30 GMT