Your music copyright questions answered

Music is integral to dance – the primary impulse that makes us want to move. Music is used in just about every facet of our artform – the studio, the stage, on-line – even on websites. But music use usually has to be paid for, unless it is out of copyright, and it is illegal to use other people's music without permission.

As creative artists, dancers understand the importance of creators making a living out of their work, but how do you know what is subject to copyright and what is not? How do you know what sort of licence you need?

The organisation responsible for licensing the use of most music in Australia is OneMusic Australia. It is designed to provide easy legal access to their songs, sound recordings and music videos. 

Late last year we asked Dance Australia readers to send in their music copyright questions. We put them to the director of OneMusic, Catherine Guiliano. The result is this two-part video interview. Please enjoy Part 1 here and look out for the second half next week.