Public Performance royalties from Film/Movie Sound Tracks

[Proactivist]

Greetings, I'm very familiar with the term public performance rights license. I'm aware PROs/CMOs are responsible for distributing royalties to songwriter members whenever their works are publicly performed at bars, restaurants concerts, etc. I have 2 questions 1. Do cinemas which show movies also obtain a public performance license from PROs/CMOs? 2. Do PROs/CMOs pay royalties to songwriter members from the films/movie's soundtrack?

[AndyJ]

Hi proactivist,

Yes and yes.

Cinemas and theatres need the appropriate licences to provide performances to the public of any work involving copyright, such as plays, music, films, poetry recitations, live bands etc. They normally have so-called blanket licences which cover them for a wide range of activities for the whole year. But a small cinema club, for example, can get a licence tailored to their specific needs, eg just for showing films, one performance a month etc.

And yes, the fees from these licences are returned to the members of the individual CMOs, less any administrative costs. There are incredibly complicated formulas for working out how much each individual author/composer might receive.

There are a number of different CMOs which issue licences for cinemas, and movie theaters: PPL, Filmbank and MPLC being just three of them.

For more on the whole subject see here

[Proactivist]

Thank you for this valuable response. It certainly answered the question. Appreciate the links