There has been some questions/comments lately about various legal issues in regards to music. Here's some handy sites that can shed light on the matter... Happy reading!!
National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA)
www.nmpa.org/
“Currently representing over 800 American music publishers, NMPA has worked to interpret copyright law, educate the public about licensing, and safeguard the interests of its members. To insure a fair and orderly market for everyone involved in music publishing, NMPA is dedicated to the protection of music copyright across all media and across all national boundaries”
Harry Fox Agency, Inc.
www.harryfox.com/
“The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. was established in 1927 as a musical copyright information source and licensing agency for the music industry. HFA currently represents more than 27,000 music publishers, and is the premier licensing resource for the mechanical use of music reproduced in all formats and media.
HFA specializes in the following licensing and monitoring services:
Mechanical Licensing
Digital Licensing
International Monitoring
Royalty Compliance:
Royalty Collections & Distributions
Downloadable forms to register copyrights
www.copyright.gov/forms
Form PA with instructions - for published or unpublished works of the performing arts
www.copyright.gov/forms/formpai.pdf
Form SR with instructions - for published or unpublished sound recordings
www.copyright.gov/forms/formsri.pdf
Performance Rights:
ASCAP American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
www.ascap.com
“ASCAP is a membership association of over 145,000 U.S. composers, songwriters and publishers of every kind of music and hundreds of thousands worldwide. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and controlled by composers, songwriters and music publishers, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the membership.
ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works. ASCAP's licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly. ASCAP makes giving and obtaining permission to perform music simple for both creators and users of music.”
BMI Broadcast Music incorporated
www.bmi.com
BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. The non-profit-making company, founded in 1940, collects license fees on behalf of those American creators it represents, as well as thousands of creators from around the world who chose BMI for representation in the United States. The license fees BMI collects for the "public performances" of its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million compositions - including radio airplay, broadcast and cable television carriage, Internet and live and recorded performances by all other users of music - are then distributed as royalties to the writers, composers and copyright holders it represents.
SESAC Society of European Stage Authors and Composers
www.sesac.com
SESAC, Inc., is a performing rights organization, with headquarters in Nashville and offices in New York, Los Angeles and London.
"When a songwriter or publisher affiliates with SESAC, SESAC then represents the right for that music to be played in public. As the technological leader among the nation’s performing rights organizations, SESAC was the first p.r.o. to employ state-of-the-art Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) performance detection. SESAC pioneered the use of Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) to provide SESAC's writer and publisher affiliates with the fastest, most accurate royalty payment available anywhere. The system required to compute compensation is based on many factors, including music trade publication chart activity, broadcast logs, computer database information, and state-of-the-art monitoring."
SGA Songwriters Guild of America
www.songwriters.org
“Organized in 1931, the SGA is the nation's largest and oldest songwriters organization, serving its members with the vital information and programs to further their careers and understanding of the music industry.”
Look up songs and artists:
Gracenote CD Data Base
www.gracenote.com
“Online music CD database: over 1500000 titles, searchable by artist, title, and song.”
AMG All Music Guide
www.allmusic.com
Search by artists, albums, songs, styles, labels.
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