Song copyright information

[lepage]

Is there a site where one can check on the copyright status of a song?

Thanks

Dave

[jimsmegos]

Which song are you looking at? In most cases (and the way I understand it) if it's been written down at any point it automatically falls into copyright protection. Depending on the song you may want to try and contact the label that released or the artist themselves which isn't all that hard to do these days.

[boss]

are you looking for licensing information? If so, I think there are two large companies (BMI is one, can't remember the name of the other) that catalog all that info. you might want to start at bmi.com.

[rche]

^^ ascap

[Mikey]

Not sure if this helps

Copyright collective - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, see bottom of page lists

m

[lepage]

ok the song is Mr. Bojangles which has been done to death. I know it was used in my favorite documentary (American Movie) and I know for a fact that they did not pay royalties on that song so I am wondering what the catch is!? Is it public domain?

[Mikey]

Try emailing the guy who wrote it.
He don't look too busy ....
Jerry Jeff Walker Official Home Page

m

[boss]

In terms of movies/TV/etc, there are usually two things you have to pay for... 1) the song itself... 2) the performance of that song (or the arrangement). If you find a song that's in the public domain (I think the rule is that it was written more than 80 years ago, but don't quote me) AND you can perform and record it yourself, it doesn't cost you anything. If you find a song in the public domain and want to use a specific version of it... you pay.

for instance, we used a lot of classical music in our commercials. the songs were obviously older than 80 years, but we had to pay for the recordings of the versions we wanted to use. that cost depends on how you intend to use it.

this is a pretty good resource... http://www.pdinfo.com/

[boss]

^^ ascap

is that it? I thought ascap was a publishing house. I was thinking of SESAC or something like that.

[boss]

ok the song is Mr. Bojangles which has been done to death. I know it was used in my favorite documentary (American Movie) and I know for a fact that they did not pay royalties on that song so I am wondering what the catch is!? Is it public domain?

the rules may be different for a documentary. I don't know.

[Brazoo]

IMDB has soundtrack listings for most films - here's the info from "American Movie":

"Mr. Bojangles"
Written by Jerry Jeff Walker
Performed by Mike Schank
used by permission of Warner/Chappell Music

AND

"Mr. Bojangles"
Written by Jerry Jeff Walker
Performed by Sammy Davis Jr.
used by permission of Warner/Chappell Music and Altovise G. Davis

Here's a link to Warner/ Chappell's music licensing contacts:
http://www.warnerchappell.com/Templa...ttab=licensing

[generic]

Ok, WOW! This is a very strange thread to find here. I'll try to clear this up:

are you looking for licensing information? If so, I think there are two large companies (BMI is one, can't remember the name of the other) that catalog all that info. you might want to start at bmi.com.

^^ ascap

is that it? I thought ascap was a publishing house. I was thinking of SESAC or something like that.

BMI, ASCAP and SESAC (and Sound Exchange) are the main performance rights organizations in the USA. They collect royalties for the public performance of copyrighted works (like when a restaurant plays music over their sound system or whatever.) To give you an example of the humanitarian works of these organizations, ASCAP tried to collect royalties from The Girl Scouts of America for singing campfire songs. They also collect insanely high royalties from mom and pop stores who have a CD playing in the background. This money is supposed to go to the artists, but don't even get me started on that one. Anyway, they are not the people that you contact about licensing a song.

ok the song is Mr. Bojangles which has been done to death. I know it was used in my favorite documentary (American Movie) and I know for a fact that they did not pay royalties on that song so I am wondering what the catch is!? Is it public domain?

Mr. Bojangles in NOT public domain. The Publisher is Warner-Tamerlane Publishing. (ok, technically, there are two specific publishers, but they are both part of Warner-Tamerlane Publishing, so that's who you'd contact and HOPEFULLY they would know where to send you from there.)

Try emailing the guy who wrote it.
He don't look too busy ....

Busy or not, he's not the guy you'd need to contact unless you want an autograph...and he might not even be the guy to contact for that!

If you want to release a CD (or record, or cassette, or 8-Track) of yourself playing a song, you need to pay a mechanical license fee. It's about $100 per 1000 copies when your releasing small quantities (a couple thousand or so). Depending on what you're doing, you might not even need to talk to anyone. Some licenses can be purchased online very easily. If you want to use the original recording of a song in a film soundtrack, you need to get the permission of the publisher (usually the record label who currently owns the specific recording of the song that you want to use). That will cost you a LOT more than a mechanical license to release recording of yourself performing a cover of a song. It often requires way more phone calls than it should. Basically, the exact steps you need to take will depend on what you are trying to do.

I hope this helps. If you have a specific question or need more help with this, send me a PM.

[lepage]

Thanks a lot everyone, Generic cleared it up for me 100%