Live-streaming policy
The London Funeral Singers does not charge clients extra if there is a video or audio live-stream at their service. Since the pandemic, live-streaming has become commonplace to make services accessible for people with health and mobility issues or living overseas. We in the funeral industry must move with and adapt to changes like these.
Our area of business requires us and our performers to be more flexible to our clients’ needs than in other areas of the performing arts. However it is important to us to balance this with protecting our performers' rights.
We have strengthened our processes to ensure as far as possible that our performers are aware if a service will be live-streamed. We respect the decision of any performer who declines a job we offer to them because they do not wish to be filmed.
It is now common for live-streamed services to remain available to watch online after the end of the service. For example, one of the UK’s leading funeral live-stream providers, Obitus, now keeps recordings available online for up to 31 days after every live-streamed service. We are aware that this poses issues relating to Performance Rights.
In every case where there is a live-stream planned, The London Funeral Singers endeavour to shorten the amount of time that the recording stays available online. In most cases we request that it be taken down within two working days after the end of the service. Those two days cater for those unable to watch at the appointed time, due to illness or timezone. Obitus live-streams are edited before being uploaded 1-3 days after the service, so in these cases we extend this period a few days longer.
We believe it is fair for families of the deceased to be able to keep a personal copy of the recording of the service free of charge. However we ask every client directly to refrain from posting the recording publicly online or on social media, and to keep the recording only for private use.
Where a family wishes to purchase full rights over the recording we will ask performers’ permission on their behalf, and seek the Musicians’ Union rate of £78.00 per performer.
Occasionally, despite all our efforts there may be instances where live-streams go ahead without our prior permission. Our performers should rest assured that we will take such matters seriously and follow them up appropriately with the relevant parties.