Do you need to buy the rights of songs to use in small revue?

A couple of friends and I are putting on a small revue/cabaret, of personal stories (altered a bit) mixed with songs from musicals, just for the hell of it, and renting a space, and charging minimal admission to family and friends. We want to do it all morally right and legal, so I was just wondering if we needed to buy rights or something to be able to perform these songs for the public.

If anyone has any information, that'd be greatly appreciated. We're just trying to get our feet wet with cabarets and showcases and get comfortable with these kind of performances.

Updated On: 7/31/12 at 01:35 AM

You are wrong. You can't perform anybody's work without permission and payment of a royalty (unless it is waived in writing). There's something called "fair use" that allows you a brief quote--about 8 bars IIRC--but that's it.

Now. I *think* inserting a song into a new theater piece requires special permission, but I've never actually tried doing it. If the event isn't too "theatrical", maybe you can get away with calling it a "concert" and simply paying performance royalties to ASCAP and BMI. (ASCAP and BMI are large organizations to which almost all songwriters belong. The organizations collect performance royalties (including recordings played on the radio) and disseminate the funds to the songwriters.)

Also. If royalties are not paid, whether or not the creators of the show will get caught will depend on how high profile the project ends up being. Case in point: the writer of MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL thought she could just "borrow" pop tunes, write new lyrics and insert the songs into her show. Fortunately, it turned out to be a hit and she was left to negotiate rights after the opening, which probably cost her (not that she hasn't made a fortune anyway).

But the OP says they want to do the "moral" thing. And that will require paying something for every song they use, unless it's a benefit for charity and they can get each songwriter to donate his/her royalties.

If you are performing at an actual cabaret venue/bar/nightclub that regularly has live entertainment, they probably have an ASCAP license, so you are covered.

Often, if you can contact the composer, they'll waive the fees for a one-time performance like this. Especially if any profit is being donated to charity.

This is how we usually manage it.

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Thanks for your responses. We're gonna take all of that into consideration and see how we move on.

Just to make clear, this is a one-night event, and the profits that we would be getting are to pay for the space, equipment, etc.

Thanks again!