The United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. (the USEF) is dedicated to promoting excellence in equestrian sport. For some disciplines—like dressage and para dressage freestyle, and vaultig—music plays an important role. In the U.S. and worldwide, music is protected by copyright laws that dictate whether, when, and how music can be incorporated and utilized in choreography, practice, and competition. When using music for a performance or event, it is important to confirm that the appropriate rights and licenses are in place. Copyright regulations and music licensing requirements are strictly enforced, and failure to comply may expose athletes, organizers, and the USEF to civil penalties and damages.

Together with other amateur sport organizations, the USEF recognizes the complex nature of obtaining rights to utilize music for equestrian performances, and so it has taken steps to better equip its members with important information about how to avoid violating copyright laws. To further assist in compliance, the USEF has entered into some limited licensing agreements with performance rights organizations and other licensing services for the benefit of its members. This document summarizes the USEF’s current licensing coverage, identifies important gaps and limitations, and provides practical guidance for athletes depending on the particular use they’d like to make. All of the guidance herein applies only to performances that involve the use of music.

Playing a song at a venue during a competition or performance requires a public performance license.

• On behalf of its members, the USEF has secured blanket licenses with the two biggest performance rights organizations, ASCAP and BMI.
• In order for your use of a song during a USEF- Licensed competition or performance to be fully covered by these licenses, the song(s) you play must be fully owned by ASCAP, BMI, or a combination of the two.
• The fastest way to ensure that the song(s) you’d like to play meet this requirement is to look them up on Songview.
• If you do not find your song(s) in the Songview database, the rights to that song(s) have either not been secured, or have explicitly been withheld.
• By performing or competing at a USEF- Licensed event or competition, you represent that you have confirmed that the song(s) you will perform are 100% owned on Songview.

If you are performing to a song or song(s) for which you have obtained a ClicknClear license, you may use a streaming service to play the song at a USEF-licensed event. Otherwise, the public performance licenses only cover songs played via hardware, and do not cover songs streamed from a digital platform like Spotify. This means that unless you have a ClicknClear license, playing music from a CD or an MP3
saved to a thumb drive or hard drive is ok; a playlist streamed from Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon Music is not.

Livestreaming requires a synchronization (“sync”) license. These licenses cannot be readily obtained in blanket form, and so individual athletes must negotiate these on a case-by-case basis. USEF is not able to facilitate these negotiations on behalf of its members.

• If you want to livestream, you must first obtain a sync license. USEF’s existing licenses do not cover this use.
• If you do not have a sync license, you cannot livestream.
• A ClicknClear license is NOT a sync license, and does not cover livestreaming.

This kind of use also requires an individually-negotiated sync license. USEF’s existing licenses do not cover this use.

• If you do not have a sync license, you cannot post recordings of performances to platforms like YouTube or Instagram.
• An athlete or organizer who is unable to obtain, or prefers not to pay for, a sync license—but still wishes to post to social media—can alternatively replace the music in the recording with royalty-free music (e.g., royaltyfreemusiclibrary.com) or by stripping the music out altogether and posting the performance without music. Please note that the IOC Guidelines (which apply to Games, i.e. Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, PanAm Games) prohibit the use of AI-generated music.

No, the recording, sale, and distribution of USEF-licensed events that feature music is strictly prohibited. Events that do not feature music, or from which the music has been stripped out or replaced with royalty-free music, are exempt from this prohibition.

• If planning to manipulate song(s), obtain a derivative license from ClicknClear and ensure the license is recorded in the LVS.
• Before composition or performance, check Songview to ensure that all songs used are 100% owned by either ASCAP, BMI, or a combination of the two.
• Unless you have a ClicknClear license, be sure to use a CD or thumb drive to play music through hardware (no streaming) at the event.
• Obtain a sync license for each song used, or do not livestream.
• Obtain a sync license for each song used, or replace or strip the music, before posting any performances to social media platforms.

Questions or concerns regarding the use of music at USEF- Licensed events, programs, and activities may be directed to [email protected].