The Right to Public Exhibition
A performance license is a legal agreement that allows a copyrighted musical composition to be performed publicly. While the term may evoke images of a live concert, in the context of film, “public performance” has a much broader definition. It includes screening a movie in a commercial theater, broadcasting it on television, streaming it on a platform like Netflix or Hulu, or even playing it at a film festival. Essentially, any time a film containing music is shown to a substantial audience outside of a private family circle, a public performance of that music is occurring. This triggers the need for a performance license, which ensures that the original songwriters and publishers are compensated for their work.
It is crucial to distinguish this from sync and master licenses. The sync/master licenses allow a filmmaker to include the song in their film’s soundtrack. The performance license covers the exhibition of that completed film to the public. These are separate rights that generate separate royalties.
The Role of Performing Rights Organizations (PROs)
The vast majority of performance licenses are not negotiated on a song-by-song basis. It would be logistically impossible for every movie theater, TV station, and streaming service to contact every single publisher for every piece of music they play. Instead, this process is managed by Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). In the United States, the main PROs are ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), and SESAC. Globally, similar organizations exist in nearly every country (e.g., PRS for Music in the UK, GEMA in Germany).
Songwriters and publishers join these organizations, which then act as their agents to:
- Issue Licenses: PROs sell “blanket licenses” to music users (theaters, broadcasters, etc.). This license gives the user the right to publicly perform any song from that PRO’s entire catalog for a flat annual fee.
- Monitor Performances: Using reporting systems, digital tracking, and surveys, PROs track which songs are being played, where, and how often.
- Collect Royalties: They collect the fees from all the blanket licenses they’ve issued.
- Distribute Royalties: After deducting their operational costs, they distribute the collected money back to their affiliated songwriters and publishers based on performance data.
What This Means for a Filmmaker
For the filmmaker themselves, this system generally operates in the background. When they secure a sync license from a publisher, the agreement typically states that the public performance rights will be handled by the relevant PROs. The financial responsibility for the performance royalties then falls not on the producer, but on the exhibitor. A movie theater chain pays annual fees to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC for the right to play any music in the films they screen. Likewise, a television network like NBC or a streaming service like Netflix pays massive blanket license fees to the PROs to cover their entire programming schedule. This system allows for the efficient compensation of creators while enabling the widespread exhibition of films and shows without insurmountable administrative burdens.