Performance Rights vs Grand Rights: What's the Difference?
Plain-English guide to performance rights, grand rights, mechanical rights, and synchronisation rights — and which ones your show actually needs.
If you're staging a play or musical, the word 'rights' gets thrown around constantly. Here's a producer-friendly breakdown of the four most common types, and which ones you actually need to secure.
Performance rights
The right to perform a play in front of an audience. For a straight play this is usually a single licence from the publisher or estate. Always required.
Grand rights
The right to perform a musical work (a song) as part of a dramatic context — i.e. inside a musical, opera, or revue with a narrative. Grand rights are negotiated directly with the rights-holder and are NOT covered by APRA AMCOS. If you're staging a musical, grand rights are bundled into your licence.
Small rights (public performance of music)
Non-dramatic public performance of music — what APRA AMCOS covers for venues. Pre-show music and interval music typically fall under your venue's APRA AMCOS licence.
Mechanical and sync rights
Mechanical = reproducing the recording (e.g. burning a CD of the cast album). Sync = pairing music to video (e.g. a promotional reel). Both are separate from your stage licence and usually need extra clearance if you intend to record or film.
Frequently asked questions
- No. Grand rights — performing a song inside a dramatic work — are licensed directly from the rights-holder, not through APRA AMCOS.
- Yes. Any video pairing the work with images needs separate synchronisation rights cleared with the music rights holder.
Are grand rights covered by APRA AMCOS?+
Do I need sync rights for a promo video?+
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