MCPS & Copyright information for CD Replication.

Unless you've written all the songs that you're using on the cd yourself, you will need to obtain a licence to go ahead with the replication. This is a legal matter and all plants require to see either your AP2 licence, or at least a copy of your application for one.
It's not a big deal, it's not very difficult, to get your cd pressed you'll need it, so Just Do IT!
Were here and we'll be happy to give you all the advice you need.
(Remember, simply applying for a licence does not guarantee that you will be granted one. The MCPS can only grant a licence for tracks from publishers and writers they have agreements with. You may have to contact other copyright holders yourself to get permission).

M.C.P.S. (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) is the body who issues the licences in th UK and are who you will need to contact to apply for a licence. Here are their contact details.
MCPS Ltd, British Music House, 29-33 Berners Street, London, W1T 3AB
Tel: 020 7306 4037 - Fax: 020 7306 4150

GET YOUR APPLICATION FORM HERE

Obtaining the MCPS AFL Form for an AP2 Licence:
If you're filling them in yourselves your first step would be to ring M.C.P.S. and ask them to send you the Application For Licence form (AFL). The forms can be tricky at first, however there are clear examples on the back of them and if you're not sure we'll be happy to advise you.
You can also download or print the form here, it's a pdf document, simply fill it in and send it off.

FILLING IN YOUR MCPS FORM

To fill in the forms you will need to have the following details at hand for each track:
The Song Title, Time (Length Of Recording), Songwriters names, Publisher details.
The AFL form (Application For Licence) has to be completed and sent to the M.C.P.S., they'll then issue you with an invoice and once paid they'll issue the licence.

Barcode No: If we're supplying you with a Bar Code, just give us a call and we'll supply these details.

Manufacturer: Please put,
M J Music, Oasis, 139 High Road, Islington, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, PE34 3BH

Price: This is where you have to put a Dealer price, the price that a Dealer/Trader will pay you before he add's his mark up to sell to the public. This is the figure used to calculate the cost of your licence, if you're not sure what to do, give me a call.

Promotional Allowance: By far the easiest way is to claim a one off allowance which 25% of your first pressing(Max 250 copies), these are allowed royalty free if they are given away as promotional copies and marked as such. Visit the M.C.P.S. website for more details.

How Much Will The Licence Be: The following is taken from the MCPS website, I hope it helps.

Royalties are calculated at maximum of 8.5% of the Published Dealer Price
(PPD - The highest unit price your retailer would pay your distributor for the product) multiplied by the number of copies to be manufactured (plus VAT).
In the absence of a PPD, it is possible to use a secondary rate; 6.5% of the retail price (ex VAT).

Royalties are only charged on MCPS controlled musical works and are calculated pro rata on timings of each musical work against the overall length of the Disc.

If you're recording covers of songs all the information you require should be on the original recording cover, CD or LP etc. If you're not sure of who wrote the songs, here is a web address that you can use, search their records by title or artiste to find the details you require. Copyright Search

If you still can't find what you need, you can ring the M.C.P.S. and they'll do their best to help, they've found information for me in the past and were most helpful.

Once obtained, this information should also be displayed somewhere in your cd artwork, normally along with the titles on pages 2 or 3 or wherever suits your design best

The MCPS require that you display the letters MCPS (in Capitals) to signify the product is licenced.
This can be placed on the body of the cd.

It's sensible to display the following on your recordings:

Catalogue No: You will need to give your CD a catalogue number of at least six letters or numbers, e.g. MJMCD01, This is important and should be placed on your design. It assists the plant to schedule and track your job and also gives you a reference number. In the case of this example, MJM stands for MJ Music on CD format, 01 our first. You could also indicate the year as in MJMCD20031, the first for 2003.

Warning notice: All rights of the manufacturer and the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised public performance, broadcasting and copying prohibited.

It would also be sensible to display the P & C symbols.

This is an internationally recognised symbol of protection of your recording. The full notice consists of three elements,

The symbol, The year date of first publication, The name of the first owner. e.g.

In addition you should also display the copyright symbol which serves to protect the artwork on the label and sleeve of your recording. e.g.

Do not combine the two notices as this may invalidate both notices, place both seperately

This is INCORRECT use of the symbols.

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