Copyrights & Licensing

CDSA (IRMA)
As an example of our ongoing commitment to the artists and other intellectual property right owners, we require that an Intellectual Property Rights Form (IPR) and a Grant of Rights Letter, along with supporting documentation, be furnished with every order that is placed for replication.

Intellectual Property Rights Form (IPR) Download here

Page 1 basically states that you either own the material, or have acquired the necessary licenses in order to reproduce the material. Proof of either circumstance will need to be provided in the form of copyright notices and/or licensing agreements. Page 2 also needs to be completed for audio projects and is self-explanatory.

The Grant of Rights Letter  Download here
This letter should be copied onto your letterhead, if possible. It states that, as the IPR owner, or as the individual/business that has acquired the rights to the material, you are granting Play-It Productions, Inc. the right to replicate this material on your behalf. No other resources needed with this form, unless you are acting on behalf of a third party. In that case, the 3rd party will need to present you with this same letter, and you will provide us with a copy for our files. This information will, of course, be kept in strict confidence.

For all IPR owners: The simplest and surest way to show proof that you are the IPR owner is to obtain a notice from the US copyright office in Washington DC. This notice is sent to you when you file a copyright form with the Library of Congress. (Link to copyright office)

For all Licensors: The simplest and surest way to show proof that you have obtained the appropriate licenses is to include copies of your licensing agreements. Any sensitive or confidential information may be eliminated (i.e. whited out) before sending the copy. Keep in mind that for all CD-ROM and DVD-ROM projects, these licenses must be obtained for any non-owned software, freeware and shareware products that are included in your project. This applies only if you are including the ACTUAL PROGRAM ON THE DISC. This does not apply to the executable files or links to the software manufacturer’s web site for the purchase or download of software.

If this sounds confusing, don’t panic. WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions below or contact us for more help.

The following FAQ explains our Anti-Piracy Program, as well as what our compliance means to our customers and prospective customers.

Q. Why is Play-It Production require these forms?
A. Piracy is a critical issue for content owners. Billions of dollars in revenue are lost each year due to the unauthorized copying of content, including music, software, videogames, and movies. An obvious area of concern is at the replication stage. Even replicators that are trying to run ethical businesses can unknowingly manufacture unauthorized content. The purpose of our Anti-Piracy Compliance is to help us establish procedures to reduce the risk of manufacturing pirated material.

Q. What does this mean to me as a customer/potential customer?
A. The Anti-Piracy Compliance Program requires us to have each and every customer fill out the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) form, regardless of the type of content to be manufactured. If you or your company owns the content to be replicated, the IPR form is all that is required. If you or your company is licensing or outsourcing work from the content owner, additional documentation will be necessary to verify your right to replicate product.

Q. I am licensing from, or outsourcing work for, the content owner. What additional documentation do I need to provide?
A. We will need to receive a copy of the licensing agreement. If there is confidential information in the licensing agreement, you may cover it (i.e. white out) before sending a copy.

Q. Will the Anti-Piracy Compliance program increase the time to process my jobs?
A. If the proper documentation is sent with your order, the Anti-Piracy program will not increase the time to process an order. We will not, under any circumstances, be able to start your project until all the necessary documentation has been provided.

Q. What happens if I cannot provide the necessary documentation? Will you still be able to replicate my work for me?
A. While we will make every effort possible to work with you, we are unfortunately not able to replicate product until all required documentation has been received.

www.copyright.gov
www.ascap.com
www.bmi.com
www.sesac.com
www.harryfox.com
www.songfile.com

Disc Descriptions

CD AUDIO
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs (Compact Disc Digital Audio system, or CD-DA).
It is named after one of a set of color-bound books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.

An audio CD contains uncompressed audio sampled at 44.1kHz and has a maximum duration of 80 minutes. Tracks on an audio CD have been formatted in such a way that they can only be played on a stand-a-lone audio CD player or on a computer using software for audio play back. So, if you are looking to make copies and distribute audio CDs do NOT provide your replicator with a CD Rom disc containing MP3 files.

CD-ROM
The term CD-ROM is an acronym for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. It is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to a computer for data storage and music playback. The technical specification is contained in the Yellow Book standard developed by Sony and Philips in 1985. All data types can be stored on a CD-ROM up to the capacity of the disc.

When first developed, the CD-ROM could hold more data than most computer hard drives at that time were capable of, making it a very popular storage device. This is obviously no longer the case and today, as CD-ROM discs are most often used to used to distribute software and other types of data intended for physical distribution.

ENHANCED CD
Enhanced CDs are sometimes referred to as CD Extra or CD Plus. The technical specification can be found in the Blue Book standard developed by Philips and Sony as a supplement to the earlier Orange Book Specification. The new Blue Book spec called for a new format containing two sessions; one for audio and one for other data formats. The audio on this disc can be played on any standalone audio CD player or on a computer equipped with a CD drive and software for audio playback.

This is a great format to consider if you want to provide your audience with an enhanced (no pun intended) entertainment experience by providing additional content. Consider adding a video, a photo gallery, a link to your website or perhaps a “meet the artist” interview. Really, the options are endless.

By the way, an enhanced CD will not cost anything more to replicate so why not take advantage of the wasted disc space?

SACD – Super Audio Compact Disc
The term SACD is an acronym for Super Audio Compact Disc. An SACD is an audio disc format developed by Sony and Philips Electronics, yes, the same companies that created the Compact Disc. SACDs provide higher quality audio than a standard CD in both stereo and surround sound modes, however, the high resolution audio can only be played on a SACD player.

DVD Video
DVD Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. Playing a DVD disc requires a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder. This decoder is built in to all stand-a-lone DVD players, and DVD computer drives with a software DVD player installed. Video on a DVD is encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compression and various audio formats.

DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM is an acronym for Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory. The disc was developed by Philips and Sony. Think of it as a huge CD-ROM but with greater storage capacity of up to almost 18 Gigabytes of material in any data format.

DVD HYBRID
A DVD Hybrid disc, also known as an Enhanced DVD, is a disc that contains both DVD Video and additional content. The DVD video portion is playable on any stand-a-lone DVD Video player or a computer equipped with a DVD Drive and a DVD software player. The additional content is only accessible on a computer from a DVD drive.

DVD 5
A DVD5 is a single-sided, single layer DVD that can hold up to 4.7GB or 120 minutes of high quality audio and video data.

DVD 9
A DVD9 is a single-sided, dual-layer DVD that can hold 8.54GB or 4 hours of audio and video data.

DVD 10
A DVD 10 is a double-sided, single layer DVD that can hold 9.4 GB of audio and video data.

ISRC Codes

UPC Codes

Soundscan