FAQ

Are there any other companies who propose the same service for choreography?

At this current time, there is no other company that sells of rights to choreography online. While there are some companies that teach dance classes and combinations virtually, none sell copyrights to full dance choreographies and pieces. There are other similar platforms and applications in other artistic disciplines such as Shutterstock, 500 Pix, Dreamstime, Twenty20, Promo by Slidely, Artlist, Premium Beat, Musicbed, Soundstripe, iStock, Promo, Playscripts, Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), and Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) to name only a few.

 

What do I get when I purchase a choreography license?

• For each choreography purchased, you have access to:

  • 1 downloadable video of the entire choreography with the music

  • 1 downloadable video of the choreographer or choreographer’s assistant explaining the choreography (counts, intention, port de bras, etc.).  NOTE THAT SOME CHOREOGRAPHIES DO NOT INCLUDE A TUTORIAL WITH THE PURCHASE.  Choreography sold without a tutorial will be indicated on its respective choreography page, so that you will be informed before purchase.  If you have purchased a piece that does not have a tutorial and you wish to have one, please write to info@choreography.online, and we will contact the choreographer and ask them to create one as soon as possible.

  • A unique license number with an expiration date linked to each specific purchase.  This number is your proof of purchase that indicates that your usage of the choreography on stage is legitimate.

• Notes concerning downloaded videos and choreography usage:

  • Each video downloaded will have a watermark on it that is automatically engraved by the system.  This watermark will include the licence number, the choreographer’s name, and the license expiration date.

  • When the purchased choreography is performed in public, we strongly encourage you to list both the choreographer’s name and the rights purchase license number in any competition or show programs associated with events in which the work is performed.

 

Who retains the rights to work / choreography put onto the platform?

The choreographers retain all rights to their work. Choreography Online simply owns the website and any original content generated.

 

Once I download the choreography videos I have purchased, can I share them online?

• No, you may not.  The choreography of a dance routine—the design of movement and flow of steps in the routine, in a finished work—is copyrightable, and therefore protected by law.  Therefore the original downloaded videos associated with a purchased license is for your use to learn the choreography for your performances, and not in themselves to be shared publicly.

 

Once I or my child performs purchased choreography, may I share this performance online?

Yes, you may.  However, you must list both the choreographer’s name and the rights purchase license number in any upload of the performance onto the internet.

 

Can several different groups or solo dancers perform the same choreography using the same license?

• No.  A purchased license is valid for one person (in the case of a solo dance) or one specific set of people (in the case of groups).  If two different people (for a solo) or two different groups are performing the same work, each set of people will have to purchase their own license.

• As a result of this restriction, we have encouraged choreographers to keep license pricing affordable and in line with their notoriety, popularity, etc.

 

Is there a selection process to decide which choreography can be sold in the platform?

We will be reviewing all choreography that is submitted for sale to ensure that videos are high-quality and that they contain no material that is inappropriate for ALL audiences.  Since we understand that personal preferences are completely subjective, we will, for the most part, accept a wide variety of choreography and styles, provided the video material and explanation text are accurately detailed and of satisfactory condition. Choreography Online reserves the right to refuse any submission that we feel is inappropriate for whatever reason, below a certain standard of professionalism, or that could hurt the reputation of the company in any way.

 

Is there a way to contact choreographers directly through Choreography Online?

In the future, we would like to integrate an easy way of hiring choreographers through the Choreography Online platform to create original works for you, but at the moment, it is up to each choreographer to indicate the ways in which he or she may be contacted.

 

In what countries will Choreography Online be available?

Choreography Online will be available in any country where citizens have access to an internet connection.

 

How does pricing work?

• Opening an account costs nothing. Shopping for choreographies costs nothing. Putting choreographies into your virtual shopping cart costs nothing.

• The choreographers themselves decide what price they want to charge for each licence. Although we make pricing suggestions, the cost will vary depending on the type of choreography (solo, duo, trio, group) and the notoriety of the choreographer.

• Upon checkout, you will be charged a credit card processing fee determined by our payment solution provider (PayPal or Stripe), plus a small $6 USD service charge.

 

Who is responsible for obtaining the rights to the music used in choreography?

• Those who purchase choreography with the intent to perform it  must agree to be responsible for obtaining the rights of the performance music.  This is the general rule of thumb for intellectual property that is used in any context, including social media platforms, Vimeo and YouTube.

• In the future, we would like to add the ability and/or option to purchase music rights directly through the platform. At the onset, we will be focusing on establishing, strengthening and streamlining our core and primary service (the sale and purchase of choreographic rights), but it is exciting to think of all the different ways we can expand our offering in the future. In order to remain realistic and ensure the platform’s quality and ease of use, we will concentrate our resources and energy on the principal value proposition.

 

What if other people buy the same choreography as me?

• This is a possibility, and in fact, already occurs occasionally. You will have to decide whether or not dancing the same choreography as someone else is important to you.

• If exclusivity is priority for you, you can decide to not purchase that piece or purchase an “Exclusive” license. Exclusive licenses ensure that no one else has access to perform that piece for the specified time mentioned in the licence. In addition, the limited-time “Exclusive” licence type will make that choreography “disappear” from the catalog until the licence expires.  Please note that purchasing an Exclusive Licence does not guarantee that someone hasn't purchased the choreography before you have purchased the Exclusive Licence. Please note as well that not all choreographers offer the option of purchasing an Exclusive Licence.

 

Can I search the choreography catalog using various parameters?

• Of course! We want to make this platform as easy to use as possible and that includes searching criteria. The following search parameters are in the current pipeline to be coded into the platform:

  • Category (dance style)

  • Type: Solo, Duo, Trios and various Group Sizes (Searchable by # of people)

  • Gender (of dancers in piece): Male, Female, Mixed, Not relevant

  • Mood (i.e. Dramatic, Happy, Romantic, Slow, Serious, Angry, Loving, etc.)

  • Difficulty level (On a scale from 1 to 10 - 10 being most difficult)

  • Choreographer’s name

• In order to gauge popularity, we will be creating a list of the pieces of choreography that are trending.

• We will also include an Editor’s Choice List that will be in an order created by dance professionals hired by our team.

 

What does Choreography Online charge for the service?

Opening an account and uploading your choreography so as to sell it on the platform  costs nothing. Choreography Online takes 10% of the licence fee only when one is sold.  With respect to credit card processing fees, in our ideal world the choreographer would be able to decide whether or not to add the cost of those fees into the license price or not.

How do I access the videos of the choreography I have purchased?

• Log into your account at https://choreography.online, and go to the menu in the upper right corner of the screen (the one with your initials).  Then go to My Purchases.  There you should be able to download both the choreography video and the corresponding tutorial (on the site it is called "Explainer").

• When you click the corresponding download buttons (labeled "Full Video" and "Explainer Video"), it should take approximately 1 or 2 hours for the system to prepare your videos.  When they are ready, you should receive a download link by email.  IMPORTANT: please be sure to whitelist the domain choreography.online (in particular the email address info@choreography.online), to make sure that our emails do not end up in your Junkmail/Spam folder.  If you don't know how to whitelist, here is an article that explains how to do it: http://onlinegroups.net/blog/2014/02/25/how-to-whitelist-an-email-address/  

What other advantages can this platform bring?

• The Choreography Online platform aims to make choreography by professionals as accessible to dancers and dance companies as great music is to musicians and orchestras. Having the pieces of choreography online eliminates the huge costs of traveling and hosting a choreographer or their assistant. This saves both time and money for the choreographer and the dancers learning the piece.

• The working visas require to hire foreign choreographers can be both time consuming and very complicated, with no guarantee that the respective governments will approve the visas. This platform removes the need to obtain working visas, once again saving dancers and choreographers time and money, not to mention a headache.  

• By having access to the work of choreographers from all over the world (some of whom are established and with international careers), you are enhancing you or your child’s artistic development and technical education in a major way.  As part of their education, young musicians grow up playing music by great composers. In dance however, the process for obtaining or learning professional choreography historically has been complicated and restricted to those dancers in major metropolitan areas, where dance has a significant footprint, or by investing large amounts of financial resources to research and fly the choreographer to you. As a result of those restrictions, students and dancers have had to rely on local teachers or nearby friends to do their choreography, regardless of whether or not choreography is that person’s forte.

 

Choreography Online aims to remove that frustration all together and have people focus on what they are good at and what they want to do - whether that is choreography or coaching. We understand that most of us are not experts at both and have proclivity to one or the other. We hope this platform allows a win-win for all stakeholders especially to students eager to improve and grow artistically and technically.