The public performance of music in street Carnival parties is not free from the collection of royalties by ECAD (the entity responsible for the management of public performance rights in Brazil). ECAD records some of the events in order to identify the songs and distribute the collected royalties proportionally among composers, performers, publishers and phonogram producers.
Public performance rights comprise both the performance of live music (with the participation of artists) and the mechanical reproduction of music by street carnival parties. Royalties are collected based on the parameters established in ECAD’s General Meeting attended by the musical associations that manage the institution (such as Abramus, UBC, Assim, Sbacem, among others).
Nowadays, the collection of royalties over street carnival parties is calculated based on the following parameters: (a) the means of public execution – if recorded or live performances; (b) the estimated audience of each event (number of people per square meter); and (c) the existence or not of sponsorship.
Carnival is one of the festivities considered as special events by ECAD. The distribution of collected royalties to copyright holders is made annually, after the deduction of the administrative costs necessary for maintaining ECAD and the associations that collectively manage copyrights.