Links for Music Copyright
Law in the USA
Copyright 2008 Ronald B. Standler
This is a collection of links for my essay,
Music Copyright Law in the USA.
U.S. Copyright Office
- homepage of U.S. Copyright Office
- U.S. Copyright statutes, 17 U.S.C., from
Copyright Office or
U.S. House of Representatives
- information on registration of copyright on music, Factsheet Nr. 105
- How to Register a Copyright in the USA for musical works
- search Copyright Office records to find copyright owner
- duration of copyright
- Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels (CARP), see the "mechanical royalty rate" for sound recordings
- historical compulsory license fees for sound recordings
- Copyright Royalty Board
Non-Governmental Organizations
Performing Rights Organizations
Performing rights organizations license the public performance of sheet music.
- American Society Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) homepage
- ASCAP Clearance Express
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC)
Music Industry Trade Groups
- Music Publishers Association homepage
- MPA Copyright Resource Center
- MPA copyright search
- MPA list of music publishers
- National Music Publishers Association homepage
- Harry Fox Agency arranges licenses for people who want to
distribute copies of a sound recording of copyrighted sheet music.
Copyright Society of the USA links
European American Music Distributors, includes sheet music publishers
Schott, Bärenreiter, Universal Edition, and others.
Recording Industry Association of America homepage
Music Library Association Copyright for Music Librarians,
old link
National Association for Music Education copyright links
American Federation of Musician (labor union)
University Websites
Dr. Charles Cronin
Copyright Infringement Project at the Univ. California at Los Angeles Law School,
formerly the Music Plagiarism Project at the Columbia Law School Library.
Contains the judicial opinion, commentary, and MIDI files of both
the plaintiff's and defendant's music in each of
104 cases
of alleged musical plagiarism from 1845 to 2007 in the USA.
This website is a wonderful resource!
Duration of copyright in the USA:
chart
by Prof. Lolly Gasaway at the University of North Carolina.
Peter B. Hirtle, a librarian at Cornell Univ., has a more comprehensive
chart.
MusicLawUpdates in UK by Prof. Ben Challis
Boston University Music Library,
links on copyright law
this document is at http://www.rbs2.com/copyrm.htm
first posted 27 Nov 2008, modified 5 Nov 2009
My webpage on general copyright law in the USA for
text, including a collection of
links to academic resources.
return to my homepage
My collection of links to sources of
sheet music
for baroque and classical composers.
My collection of links to websites about each of my favorite
composers
(i.e., J.S. Bach, G.F. Händel, F.J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert).