What constitutes a public performance?

What constitutes a public performance?

• A. A performance inside a private home
• B. A performance inside a regulated classroom
• C. A performance outside a normal friends-and-family setting
• D. A performance within a church service

Answer: (C)

Public performance is defined by who can hear the work, not just by the venue. It’s about making the music available to a broad or non-private audience, rather than to a small circle of family or close friends. When a performer plays outside a normal friends-and-family setting, the audience is no longer limited to a private group, so the performance is considered public for licensing purposes. Inside a private home is clearly private and not a public performance. A regulated classroom typically serves a defined, restricted group (students and instructors), which keeps it out of the public-performances category in most licensing contexts. A church service can feel public, but it’s still a structured, community-based setting with a specific audience; the test here emphasizes the broader public-access scenario, which is best described by performing outside a normal friends-and-family circle.

Public performance is defined by who can hear the work, not just by the venue. It’s about making the music available to a broad or non-private audience, rather than to a small circle of family or close friends. When a performer plays outside a normal friends-and-family setting, the audience is no longer limited to a private group, so the performance is considered public for licensing purposes.

Inside a private home is clearly private and not a public performance. A regulated classroom typically serves a defined, restricted group (students and instructors), which keeps it out of the public-performances category in most licensing contexts. A church service can feel public, but it’s still a structured, community-based setting with a specific audience; the test here emphasizes the broader public-access scenario, which is best described by performing outside a normal friends-and-family circle.