Subject Guides: Music 286: Introduction to the Music Business: Your Rights

The best (most comprehensive) sources:

US Copyright Office
THE source for copyright information.
BYU Copyright Licensing Office
The campus source for answers to your copyright questions.
Free Music Resources for the BYU Community
Works in the public domain or with a creative commons license.
Music Copyright Infringement Resource
The purpose of this project is to make universally available information about U.S. music copyright infringement cases from the mid-nineteenth century forward.
Music Law Resource Guide
From Hofstra University

The Basics of Getting Permission HT Stanford University Libraries

As the creator of a musical work, your creation is protected by copyright:

1. If it is a work of original creation.

2. If it is in a fixed format, so that it can be read, seen or heard.

3. If the work shows at least a minimum level of creativity.

As the owner of your creation, you enjoy some exclusive rights, easy to remember using the acronym RAP Triple D

R – reproduction

A – adaptation (derivative works)

P – PUBLIC Performance

D – Distribution

D – Display

D – Digital transmission

Harry Fox Agency
Mechanical licensing, collections and distribution agency
SoundExchange
Independent nonprofit collective management organization that collects and distributes digital performance royalties to featured artists and copyright holders.

ASCAP
ASCAP, an organization owned and run by its members, is the leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization representing over 525,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.
BMI
BMI supports its songwriters, composers and publishers by taking care of an important aspect of their careers – getting paid. BMI supports businesses and organizations that play music publicly by offering blanket music licenses that permit them to play more than 8.5 million musical works. Both relationships save each time and money.
SESAC
Songwriters and publishers are paid royalties based on many factors, including state-of-the-art monitoring and computer database information. SESAC is the first and only performing rights organization to pay royalties on a monthly rather than quarterly basis. SESAC utilizes a selective process when affiliating songwriters and publishers, resulting in a level of service and attention unparalleled in the industry.

Tresóna
Looking to do an arrangement of someone else's composition? Get help here.