Poetry and Prose

Poetry

Authors of poetry are entitled to royalty payment when their work is used in public performance, including broadcasts and extracts of poetry in larger programmes. You need permission from the copyright owner to adapt a poetic work, or part thereof, for dramatic purposes. You would still have to pay a royalty to the owner of the copyright of the original work.

DALRO can grant permissionto set poetry by South African authors to music. You would simply need to give us the following information:

• Name of the person/organisation requiring permission
• Title of the poem
• Name of the author
• Title of the printed volume in which the poem appear in print
• Number of lines used (if the full work is being used, kindly indicate the total number of lines the poem consists of)

Please contact us if you want to find out more about this.

Prose

The author of a prose work is entitled to a royalty payment if you perform his work in public, and this includes broadcasting. If you make an adaptation of a prose work, or part of it, for dramatic purposes, obtain permission beforehand.

Remember, you would still need to pay a royalty to the original rightsholder every time the new derivative work is performed. Click here to contact us for more information.