GALA Choruses - Online Resources: Links
Copyright Information & Performance Rights

The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP)
An association of composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers which protects the rights of its members by licensing and paying royalties for the public performances of members' copyrighted works.
Contact information:
Phone: 1-800-652-7227 (option 1 then 4 for new licensees)
E-mail: s&clicensing@ascap.com

Australasian Performing Right Association
An association of composers, lyricists, and music publishers, which administers the exclusive rights given to music copyright owners by Australian legislation to authorize the public performance, broadcast, and recording of members' works.

BMI
An organization which acquires rights from writers and publishers and in turn grants licenses to use its entire repertoire to users of music. BMI collects license fees from each user of music BMI licenses, and distributes to its writers and publishers all the money collected, other than what is needed for operating expenses. BMI only licenses non-dramatic performing rights.

The Canada Council for the Arts
A Canadian agency which fosters the development of the arts in Canada through grants, services, and awards to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations, as well as administering scholarly awards.

Copyright Resource Center
An online copyright resource center, created and maintained by the Music Publishers' Association, which provides a step-by-step guide to researching the copyright holder or publisher of a piece of music. It also provides forms for obtaining permission from the publisher to arrange a piece of music or make copies of out-of-print music.

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States

A nice chart detailing what is and isn't in Public Domain in the US. You can use it on the Web, or print out a PDF file.

The Harry Fox Agency (HFA)
An organization established by the National Music Publishers' Association to provide an information source, clearinghouse, and monitoring service for licensing musical copyrights.

The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA)
A coalition of American music publishers which works to interpret copyright law, educate the public about licensing, and safeguard the interests of its members.

Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada
A Canadian copyright collective for musical works, protecting the performing rights of its members (composers, lyricists, songwriters, and publishers) by licensing music users and paying royalties to members and affiliates for the public performances of their copyright-protected works.

SynthZone: Musicians' Services & Organizations
An annotated list of links to web sites focused on musicians' issues, primarily copyright information and performance rights.