Free Music for Schools

The Regional Broadband Consortium Group (“RBC”) today announced the signing of an agreement with the award-winning film and television music company Audio Network Plc. The deal gives all English Broadband schools access to music for use in their film and multi-media projects.

Under the agreement, Audio Network will make its music available for use by schools through a dedicated on-line server being developed by the London Grid For Learning on behalf of all 10 RBCs. Under the deal negotiated by the RBC group schools will not be charged for the synchronization use of the Audio Network resources but students will be asked to log records of tracks used so that they respect the principle of intellectual property and acknowledge the value of copyright and the creative process.

The agreement is designed to overcome the many problems being experienced by schools undertaking audio-visual projects and to allow schools access to music resources without the fear of copyright infringement.
Audio Network, based in the East of England region, was formed in 2001 as a collective of 100 leading composers to bypass the complex licensing problems being experienced by film and television producers.
Evelyn Glennie OBE, John Dankworth CBE, Dame Cleo Laine and Chris Norton who participate in Audio Network alongside Oscar winning Hollywood sound designers, are four of Britain’s most active supporters of music in education and they inspired the company to make its content available for use in schools.

The Audio Network music tracks and 50,000 Hollywood sound effects can be previewed at the Audio Network web site www.audiolicense.net

The music will be accessible free of charge to any school attached to the National Schools Network via their Regional Broadband Consortium (RBC). Audio Network has also agreed to supply a set of sixty six Audio Network CDs to any school not currently on the RBC network but requiring access to the music for a single payment of just £200 plus VAT per set.

Robert Hurst, Managing Director of Audio Network said “We are delighted to be working with the RBC Group to give the next generation of filmmakers access to the same high quality music resources used by international film and television producers”

The ten Regional Broadband Consortia of Local Education Authorities were established in 1999 to provide quality broadband, content and learning services and to enable communication and content delivery between schools.

This deal with Audio Network follows on from an earlier agreement with Pathé for the Pathé film archives to be made available for use within schools.

Editor’s Note:

AUDIO NETWORK BACKGROUND

Audio Network is a new kind of music and sound library. Uniquely, it can allow production companies unlimited access to its entire catalogue for a small subscription fee without needing to account to composers, artists, record companies, publishers or other interested parties on a use-by-use basis. The company can do this because unlike traditional libraries, it has acquired all the relevant usage rights from the content providers.

Audio Network considerably reduces the hassle and admin cost of using music. Having all the music cleared domestically at source is a great advantage for Producers, especially those in the business of reversioning programming for international distribution. Audio Network is the first company to make a serious attempt at resolving these problems.

To find out more about the music in schools initiative please contact the London Grid For Learning or the RBC for your area:

London Grid For Learning
4th Floor, CI Tower, St Georges Square, New Malden, KT3 4HG
t 020 8408 4466 f 020 8408 6014

You can find out more about Audio Network and its music at their website www.audiolicense.net or by calling Andrew Sunnucks or Robert Hurst on 01787 477277