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.