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)
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC)
Music Industry Trade Groups
Music Publishers Association website has links to
copyright resources, MPA copyright search, a list of music publishers
and other resources.
- 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
Recording Industry Association of America homepage
Music Library Association
Copyright for Music Librarians
National Association
for Music Education copyright links
American
Federation of Musicians (labor union) music copyright information
University Websites
Dr. Charles Cronin
Copyright Infringement Project at the Univ. Southern California 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 more than one hundred
cases
of alleged musical plagiarism from 1845 to 2012 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 11 July 2013
My subhomepage on
copyright law in the USA,
has annotated links to all of my essays on copyright law. My essays on
music copyright law
are linked in one section of my copyright law subhomepage.
My collection of links
to sources of sheet music for baroque and classical composers,
my favorite composers, and sources of recordings of music.