Music Library

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RESPONSIBLE LIBRARY MANAGEMENT & USAGE

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The Canadian choral community — including choirs, conductors, publishers, Provincial Choral Organizations (PCOs), and other music organizations and enterprises — has an important role to play in developing and maintaining a culture of appreciation of and support for all choral artists. Responsibly run choral lending libraries provide many benefits to the choral community, and MCA's library of over 5,000 titles is no different.

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In 2024, the Canadian PCOs developed a document entitled Guidelines for the Responsible Management of Choral Libraries, in which we commit to managing our choral music library in a responsible and ethical way, and encouraging choirs to borrow responsibly, to support composers, and to comply with copyright law when borrowing music.

 

As a responsible and ethical organization that operates a choral music lending library, MCA makes the following commitments:

 

• Encourage the inclusion of Canadian compositions in choral programming.

• Remind borrowing choirs that SOCAN/Entandem* fees must be paid for choral performances so that royalties go back to composers/artists.

• Remind borrowing choirs that copying music, by photocopying or otherwise, is illegal.

• Strongly encourage choirs to purchase music as their means allow, and in particular, to support local and Canadian composers and arrangers.

• Encourage choirs to build lasting relationships with and commission arrangers and composers to create new choral music.

• Inform and encourage strict adherence to licenses for purchased digital music (when PCOs purchase digital music and/or when choirs print music using PCO equipment).

• Limit the number of titles choirs may borrow for a concert, so that borrowed music supplements a choir’s concert repertoire and does not form the entirety of the program.

• Comply with Canadian legislation and regulations regarding copyright and intellectual property, particularly when it comes to digital music lending, if applicable.

• Operate so as not to profit financially from lending libraries.

• Share these responsible and ethical library usage guidelines on our website and distribute them to borrowers on an annual basis. To read the full guidelines, click the button below.