Licensing

Permission to use music

Dansk | English

The use and exploitation of copyright musical works is subject to license, and permission may need to be negotiated directly with us.

Licenses from Wise Music or its representatives are required for the following:

  • Grand Rights - for permission to perform music as part of a staged work (i.e an opera or ballet);
  • Synchronisation - for permission to include music as part of a media production (i.e a film or stream);
  • Adaptations / Samples - for permission to make a new version or create a sample of a work;
  • Mechanical License - for permission to record music and distribute the recording;
  • Reprints - for permission to reprint existing works or publications.

  • Do you wish to use a piece of our music in public performance?

    Download request form regarding grand rights

    In Denmark, any public performance of music, whether live or from a recording played from a CD, radio, television, film, video etc. must be licensed by, reported and paid to KODA. For further information contact KODA. For enquires regarding public performances in other Scandinavian territories contact TONO (Norway), STIM (Sweden), TEOSTO (Finland), STEF (Iceland), EAU (Estonia), AKKA-LAA (Latvia) or LATGA (Lithuania).

    In regards to live performances, we are always interested in obtaining information about events to our performance calendar. Please send any information to our promotion department at promotion@ewh.dk.

    KODA, and their sister organisations, can only give permission to perform a musical work in its original form. If you wish to perform the work as an arrangement, use it in a sampling in your own work, use it in a translation that has not been used before or use it with new lyrics to the existing melody, please click on the relevant links on this website. There you can download the relevant request forms and read more about the licensing requirements.

    The exception is that KODA, and their sister organisations, does not license performances of dramatico-musical works. If you wish to use one of such works in our catalogue (e.g. opera or ballet) – or you wish to use our music in connection with a stage performance (dance, theatre etc.) you must gain authorization from Edition Wilhelm Hansen directly. These rights are called dramatic rights or, more commonly, Grand Rights. Please note that we can also give authorization for the performance of our affiliates and agents’ works as we represent their grand rights as well as the Wilhelm Hansen repertoire.

    If you have any questions about Grand Rights, please fill out the relevant form and send it, along with your query, to  to dram@ewh.dk or call: (+45) 33 11 78 88. Enquiries made without a completed form may be delayed or unable to be answered in full. Please note that if you wish to use more than one musical work in the same show or context you must fill out a separate form for each work.

  • Do you wish to record a piece of our music for sale on CD, digital download, streaming or similar use?

    Permission to record our music is given by NCB. However, you need as well to contact us directly if your request is affected by any of the following conditions:

    1. If the musical work has never been recorded before, please send an e-mail to Mikael Kristiansen at mk@ewh.dk or call (+45) 33 70 15 12.

    2. If it regards an orchestral work (i.e. if the score is not for sale but only for rent) you must contact us regarding a special tariff for CD recordings. Please contact our Hire Library at hire@ewh.dk or call (+45) 33 11 78 88.

    3. NCB can only give permission to record a work in its original form. If you wish to record a work in a different or new arrangement, use it as a sample in your own work, record it with a translation that has not been recorded before, or record it with new lyrics, please click on the relevant links below, where you can read more and download request forms.

    4. If you wish to use lyrics within a booklet, on a front cover or in other printed materials, you will need specific permission. Please go to the section below regarding print rights and follow the instructions.

    Edition Wilhelm Hansen also represents a number of master rights, ie. rights we have acquired by producing recordings or by administration deals with record companies. If you wish to use any of our recordings ie. on a compilation-cd, feel free to contact Charlotte Paludan at cp@ewh.dk, or call (+45) 33 70 15 01. We do not have a specific request form for this use.

  • Do you wish to use our music in a film, TV-broadcast, video, DVD, advertisement or similar use?

    Download request form regarding synchronization rights or use the online form


    You must have permission from either Edition Wilhelm Hansen or NCB. In general NCB authorizes the following types of productions:

    - TV-productions for broadcast in the Nordic/Baltic region

    - Video productions (including DVD) meant for the private market

    - Productions for educational purposes and for internal usages in companies and in non-commercial short films

    For enquiries regarding feature films, documentaries and video productions meant for performance in cinemas etc. as well as commercials, please contact us directly. If we haven’t got the authorization to license, we will refer to NCB.

    Please be aware that in addition to our own repertoire we also authorize works on behalf of our affiliates as well as on behalf of a series of individual agreements.

    For more information on a specific enquiry, please contact Charlotte Paludan at cp@ewh.dk, or call (+45) 33 70 15 01. It is important that the relevant forms to your request are as complete as possible before you contact us so that your query can be answered in full without delay. If you want to use multiple pieces of our music in the same production, you must fill out a form for each work.

  • Do you wish to use our music in a book, songbook, magazine, news paper or otherwise in print?

    Request forms regarding print rights (will open in new window)

    You must obtain a license in order to print any of our works. It is important that you obtain this permission well in advance of any printing or production as – among other things – a copyright note must be included in the print run.

    A license to reproduce a work in print only regards the work in its original form. If you wish to reproduce the work as a new or different arrangement, as a translation or with new lyrics, click on the appropriate links on this website and read more and download the appropriate request form.

    The usage of lyrics in CD booklets, on the internet, on different screens or other graphic usages of lyrics and notes is equivalent to print rights.

    All print licensing requests for songs owned by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, any other Wise Music Group publisher or any third party publisher previously administered by us, are now handled by our partner Hal Leonard Europe.

    Use the link above to access Hal Leonard's website. Please note: previous Word-based request forms can no longer be used.

  • Do you wish to use our music for karaoke, e-book, websites, apps or any other audio-visual form?

    As with other requests to use recordings of our works you must contact NCB. For permission to use our music on the internet, contact KODA. In both cases, if notes, chords or lyrics are shown on a screen or website you must obtain a license from us. This is done as for Print Rights (see above).

  • Do you wish to use our music in new arrangement, as a sample, translated or with new lyrics?

    If you have made an arrangement, used one of our works as a sample, made a translation or added new lyrics to one or more of our melodies or any other way made adaptations of our works, please download the relevant request form and read the information below. If you have questions after reading this text, please contact Mikael Kristiansen at mk@ewh.dk, or call (+45) 33 70 15 12.

    Arrangements
    Download request form regarding authorization of arrangement

    As a principle we do not allow new arrangements of our music without permission. Regarding our pop repertoire, arrangements that are in effect ”practical adaptations for the performing ensemble in question” ("cover recordings") are usually allowed as long as it is not then sold as a score or recording. If you do not change the music’s basic elements (melody, harmony etc.) recording is also acceptable, and you would then not be required to cite an arranger when reporting the work to NCB.
    For example it is fine if a choral conductor arranges one of our songs for his choir, and that the choir performs it, but if the choir records it, the arrangement must be authorized. However, sales or giveaways of the arrangement to a conductor colleague for use with other choirs is not allowed.
    Arrangements of our so-called serious repertoire should always be cleared with us before usage, even if you arrange it together with the composer.
    We can never give advance approval for arrangements, i.e. we need to see or hear the final result (not necessarily in the final mix) before we can authorize the arrangement. You are of course welcome to inquire whether there are general restrictions on arrangements of the work in question.

    Translations and new lyrics
    Download request form regarding authorization of translation

    Regarding translations and new lyrics for existing melodies, you must obtain permission before using the adapted work, even if you are the only person set to perform it. The same process also covers the writing of new music to existing lyrics. If you wish to record or perform with a translation, that you have not written yourself, it is important that you examine whether the translation has been used by others before. In this context it is important to know the name of the translator. You are welcome to ask us whether we are aware of a given translation. We need to know the title of the song, the title of the translation and the translator’s name.
    We can never approve translations or new lyrics in advance. We must see the final result before we can approve the text. You are of course welcome to inquire whether there are general restrictions on translations or (more likely) new lyrics for the work in question.
    In regards to translations of an original foreign work (i.e. non-Scandinavian) you must enclose an English rough translation of your text, i.e. a text in which the lyrics are translated word for word (it shall mean exactly the same but not be singable) into English. If the original work is in German or any other language, it would be preferable if a rough translation could be made in German, but generally English is accepted.

    Samples/interpolations
    Download request form regarding authorization of use of sampling

    If you are using one or more of our works in your own work, you’ll need permission before you record it, or perform it in public. We must agree on remuneration shares in advance so that the composer of the work is reimbursed for the performance and mechanical income, whenever your work gets played or recorded. Generally a so-called split-share is agreed upon which may be the same agreement made with a co-composer.
    The difference between a sample and an interpolation is that sampling uses a specific audio track or part of an audio track that you haven’t recorded yourself. An interpolation is the use of a musical work in your own performance.
    When using a sound clip from a recording in a sample, make sure you have our permission as the publisher, representing the copyright on behalf of the composer and author, and also from the record company that represents the so-called master rights on behalf of the musicians. If it is one of our own masters (including Storyville works) you can apply for both rights on the same request form that is used for clearance of copyrights.
    Do not take for granted that the split share is the same for copyright and master right. The master rights are generally measured using the time taken, while it is included in the estimation of copyright if you have used the musical material from the sample in the rest of the composition.

  • Request Forms