Copyright and Licensing
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ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers is a membership association of more than 300,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. ASCAP licenses and distributes royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of members' copyrighted works. ASCAP's licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly.
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BMI
Broadcast Music, Inc. is a performing right organization: It collects license fees on behalf of its songwriters, composers and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed. BMI issues licenses to various users of music, tracks public performances of its members' music, and collects and distributes licensing revenues for those performances. The BMI website includes a searchable database of its more than 6.5 million represented works.
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A Guide to Copyright for Music Librarians
The Music Library Association maintains this guide to copyright. The guide focuses on issues pertaining to music libraries, music librarians, and music researchers.
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Music Publishers' Association
The Music Publishers' Association works to foster communication among publishers, dealers, music educators, and ultimate users of music. This non-profit association addresses itself to issues pertaining to every area of music publishing with an emphasis on the issues relevant to the publishers of print music for concert and educational purposes. The website of the MPA includes a copyright resource center and a directory of music publishers.
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Music Theatre International
Music Theatre International is a theatrical licensing company, specializing in Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End musicals. In addition to full scripts and scores, MTI offers condensed versions of some shows, for performance for or by students of various ages. MTI also carries a variety of educational materials relating to musical theater.
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PD Info: Public Domain Music
PDInfo provides information about public domain in the United States as well as resources for locating and verifying the status of musical works the are in the public domain. The site also links to and sells royalty-free recordings.
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SESAC
SESAC is a performing rights organization, smaller than either ASCAP or BMI. The acronym originally stood for the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers. However, it has since expanded to include a variety of composers, songwriters, and publishers.