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A Charity CD is a tried and tested way of supporting a charity or good cause and also supporting the musicians and singers involved. It's straightforward but has to be thought through in advance.

Copyright    Getting a Quote      Duplication       Track Sales      See Our Products      Performance   Other

Copyright

If you're planning to make a charity CD you need to ask yourself some pretty searching questions before you begin. This page does not offer legal advice but just raises a few questions, and gives you a structure you can work around. It does not take the place of legal advice.

Firstly, what is the purpose of your recording? If you are going to try and duplicate copies for your charity, then you need to think about any copyrights you may be falling foul of. For example, is it your music or does it belong to someone else? If it's yours, great, copy away. If the song or music was written by someone else you need to get a licence from MCPS. If you are going to perform it you need to either get their permission or obtain a licence from PRS, if they are represented by PRS. Both of those items have a fee attached.

So it's a lot simpler to record original music in some ways.

More copyright information from the experts

     

Having established that you are allowed to perform the music and record/duplicate it, you then have to consider whether backing tracks will be used or whether you're going to play the instruments in (or get the studio to do that).

If you use a backing you'll need to ensure you have the permission of the backings creator - many are happy for this, but do get explicit written permission. If this can't be obtained, or you want a clear right to the track, it needs playing in from scratch, instrument at a time. This may not be a lengthy process, it just depends on the track.

We can help you with all of these items.

Getting a Quote

We can give you an estimate for recording and production to make the finished master for your Charity CD which is usually pretty accurate for the hours or days taken to record your work, with a discount for more hours or more days, and at the best rate for you. We can usually quote on a track by track basis, although it can be a bit loose if you change direction or decide to add more instrumentation etc.

So when you ask us to quote you, try and give as wide a picture as possible and we'll get you the best price we can. If you're going to want CD duplication, try and tell us how many from the start and build this around a realistic number of purchasers. Alternatively, if you trust your customer-base not to forward each other tracks, they can buy downloads. This is less expensive for you in outlay.

Duplication Assistance

We sometimes support charity CDs by providing a run of CDs at no charge, if a recording has been made with us. Please ask as this is not always the case, it depends on the cost of the project.

Track Sales Donations

Charity downloads recorded at the Beehouse are usually made available on our downloads website, Noochoon, and put into our online catalogue at no extra charge. However you may need to pay for ISRC coding and to register the track for royalties if you are expecting radio play. You may also need to pay for barcoding if there's a CD. Charges for these are on our Noochoon site, but again, mention these when you enquire and you'll get an overall price as far as is possible.

See our products

If you go to our downloads and music sales site, Noochoon, you can go to the charity CD section and look at / listen to some of our products and samples, in particular we'd recommend you look at Hookstick and Eclips'd.

Performance Donations

If you're intending to perform the contents of your CD, we are currently building a circuit for charity-related music performances around the UK at various venues. We can probably go some way to helping you get some gigs, and we can also help you develop backings to support your performances and increase your chances of royalties should you need this.

Other Ways We Support Charities.

We currently rent our workspace from the Llanfyllin Dolydd Building Preservation Trust. We no longer offer a local community rate for our services, but quote each job on its merits.



If you would like our help with your charity project, please don't hesitate to ask. There are many ways in which we may be able to do so, and we're happy to have a frank discussion with you about different options. Each case will be different.