Copyright is the means by which a person or a business makes a living from creativity. Copyright springs from a simple notion: the people that create, produce or invest in creative work should be the ones that decide how that work should be reproduced and made available to the public

Enshrined in international law for more than 200 years, copyright provides the economic foundation for creating and disseminating music, literature, art, films, software, and other forms of creative works. Copyright also protects culture and fosters artistic integrity.

Copyright provides that the rights holders determine whether and how copying, distributing, broadcasting and other uses of their works take place. This gives talented people the incentive to create great works, and entrepreneurs the economic reasons to invest in them.

Copyright has underpinned an extraordinary modern economic success story, accounting for tens of millions of jobs worldwide. The dramatic growth of the artistic, cultural and other creative industries in today's major economies would have been impossible without the strong levels of copyright protection that those countries have developed over many decades.

The latest available government estimates in Europe and the United States value copyright-based industries respectively at 360 billion Euros and US$430 billion, representing more than 5% of GDP. As we enter the age of electronic commerce, copyrighted material will be one of the most valuable commodities to be offered and sold on-line.

Copyright protects everyone involved in the music industry - from the aspiring artist to the successful best-seller, and from the local independent record company to the large multinational producer. It ensures that all the parties that have had a part in creating the music are rewarded for their work.

Copyright and similar rights protect the true value behind the sale of any musical recording - these rights represent and reward the creativity, sweat and toil of those who create and sell music. The proportion of the price of a CD or cassette accounted for by the cost of manufacturing the product is minimal. The real value is in the rights and the creativity that they protect.

The international recording industry is driven by dynamism and enterprise, but these would be meaningless in a world of inadequate copyright protection. Record companies invest billions of dollars of the industry's total worldwide revenues in new artists, many of whom will never prove commercially successful. It is this culturally diverse bedrock of investment in new talent that weak copyright protection hurts most.

A new era of piracy on the internet poses potentially even greater problems than the proliferation of CD piracy.

The recording industry is fast entering the age of digital distribution. Technologies of music delivery are changing radically, bringing tremendous benefits to producer, distributor and consumer. To secure the same sort of protections in the on-line world that the music industry enjoys in the analogue world, copyright laws need updating.>

The fundamental principles behind the laws, however, remain unchanged. Copyright laws must ensure that artists, composers and record producers are strongly protected from internet piracy. Rights holders also need to be able to use the technologies of the internet to manage and control the use of their works.

Music is all around us - in shops, cars, restaurants and on TV. Before making any copies it's important to understand the basic rules surrounding the reproduction (copying) of sound recordings.

MPC provides licences on behalf of TECA members to individuals and organisations who wish to make legitimate reproductions of sound recordings for some specific limited purposes (such as commercial background music suppliers). Through our licensing services you can access a wide range of sound recordings from major record companies and independent labels

You will almost always need a licence before reproducing any sound recordings, whether they are for a public performance or your own personal use (unless one of the very limited "fair dealing" exceptions in the Copyright Act applies). Copyright applies regardless of the source of the recording - whether you downloaded it from a legitimate internet site or copied it from a commercially available CD that you have purchased

In this section you will find sound recording reproduction license application forms and answers to frequently asked licensing questions. If you still need further assistance, e-mail the licensing department at info@mpcmusic.co.th , and we'll be happy to help.

A sound recording means the aggregate of the sounds embodied in a compact disc, record, pre-recorded cassette, home-made tape or any other device in which sounds are embodied. In other words, it is the sounds on a CD (rather than the CD itself) which constitutes the sound recording. Protected sound recordings are those covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act and the Copyright (International Protection) Regulations, for which the Act grants public performance and broadcast rights.

MPC can license “public performances” of sound recordings and music videos. A sound recording is “performed” if it is heard. As a type of cinematograph film, a music video is “performed” if it is seen and/or heard. “Public Performance” is the playing of a sound recording or the exhibition of a cinematograph film in public.

Whether a performance is “in public” depends on the “character” of the audience and the effect of the performance on the value of the copyright. This means you have to consider the circumstances of each individual performance to determine if it is in public. The courts have given some guidance, however, by making it clear that a performance can still be a “public performance” even if:

• 1. The performance is given for free.
• 2. The audience is small.
• 3. There is no admission fee to hear or see the performance.
• 4. The performance is confined to members of a club.

MPC can license “public performances” of sound recordings and music videos. A sound recording is “performed” if it is heard. As a type of cinematograph film, a music video is “performed” if it is seen and/or heard. “Public Performance” is the playing of a sound recording or the exhibition of a cinematograph film in public. Whether a performance is “in public” depends on the “character” of the audience and the effect of the performance on the value of the copyright. This means you have to consider the circumstances of each individual performance to determine if it is in public. The courts have given some guidance, however, by making it clear that a performance can still be a “public performance” even if: 1.the performance is given for free; 2.the audience is small; 3.there is no admission fee to hear or see the performance; or 4.the performance is confined to members of a club. In relation to sound recordings, it does not matter whether the public performance takes place by means of a compact disc, record, cassette, tape or other carrier. Similarly, for music videos it does not matter whether the public performance takes place by means of a celluloid film, DVD or video tape, or through a large screen or a TV monitor. In all cases, you still need a licence to publicly perform or exhibit the sound recording or music video. Under the Act, only the copyright owner or exclusive licensee of a sound recording or music video can authorise (or license) its playing or public performance. The record companies have authorised MPC to grant non-exclusive “blanket licences”, which cover the public performance of protected sound recordings from a number of different record companies under the one licence. This makes the licence procedure as simple and as easy as possible for all concerned.