All of the Fishy Music productions are covered by copyright, shown by the copyright symbol © on CDs and manuals and the production copyright symbol p on audio CDs. We like to keep our copyright simple as we believe in making our songs and stories freely available to as many children as possible, so here are our principles:

Reproduction of Words and Music

  • If you buy one of our Collective Worship CDs such as Five Little Fingers, we are happy for you to copy the enlarged words in the Manual to make OHPs or use on a digital projector or SmartBoard. You can also copy the sheet music in the Manual for teachers to play in assembly.

Performance

  • You can play any of our CDs freely in classrooms or assemblies or at public performances anywhere

  • If you buy one of our new productions such as The Christmas Story, the Producers Book that comes with it includes a Performing Licence, giving you permission to stage a performance and even charge for tickets without paying any additional fees.

Recording

  • Our CDs themselves are covered by Mechanical Copyright – this means that you are NOT allowed to make copies of our CDs or edit them and distribute them around other classrooms or to your colleagues. If you need more copies, you should contact us and, as with books, buy the copies you need.

Our Responsibility

Each time we produce a new CD, we complete a return to the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) to register the production and these initials appear on the product. If we use a song written by someone else, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on our CD And So To Sleep we pay a royalty to the original writer. Songs we have written ourselves such as Happy Christmas Everybody on our CD The Christmas Story are registered with MCPS to acknowledge that we are the song’s creator and have ownership of the copyright. This means that if anyone wants to re-record our songs, they should apply to us or register with the MCPS for permission to do so.

To find out more about licensing, go to

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I copy the words or music from the Fishy Music manuals without an additional licence?

YES.

Can I project the words from the songs on a data projector in assembly?

YES.

Can I play the CD tracks in a public performance for parents?

YES.

Can I copy a CD to use in another classroom in my department?

NO.  You must buy another CD.

Do I need to buy a Performing Licence to put on a Christmas Musical?

NO.  A Performing Licence is included in the Producer’s Book.