Why do I need a performing licence?

Every musical in our catalogue is protected under Copyright law. Before you can produce one of our musicals, you must obtain a performing licence. A licence grants you rights to perform the show and outlines all fees. You should always obtain written confirmation of a musical’s availability from Music Theatre International (Europe) before planning a production or announcing a season. After creating a show, theatre writers copyright their work, protecting their ownership and enabling only them or their representatives (in this case, MTI Europe) to decide: who may perform the show, where it may be performed and what licence fees will be required. On the authors’ behalf, MTI Europe grants a licence for organisations to produce the show and collects a fee, known as a royalty, for all performances. Built into every licence is specific language that governs how the copyrighted work may be presented. 
Our responsibilities include enforcing copyright law as it pertains to live stage performances (prohibiting changes to the script or score, monitoring unlicensed productions, etc), promoting and engaging new productions of shows and to ensure all funds owed are paid to the relevant writers/original rights holders.