Music: Free Online Resources

This site is maintained by the Legislation Committee of the Music Library Association (MLA) as a resource for anyone interested in issues of copyright as they apply to the fields of music and music librarianship. This website includes information about recent court cases, various copyright laws, as well as a short bibliography of copyright-related materials relevant for music librarians.

Founded in 1895, the Music Publishers Association is the oldest music trade organization in the United States, fostering communication among publishers, dealers, music educators, and all ultimate users of music. This resource includes several pdf documents pertaining to copyright concerns (e.g.: "Form for Reporting Copyright Violations"), as well as a detailed article discussing copyright in relation to the music publishing process, among other things.

The purpose of this project, jointly sponsored by the Columbia Law School and the USC Gould School of Law, is to make universally available information about music copyright infringement cases from the mid-nineteenth centur​y forward. The website has recently added documentation for a number of music copyright infringement cases tried in Taiwan and China over the past decade. These cases include Wang v. Chen (2012) involving the theme music used in the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing.

The U.S. Copyright Office and the position of Register of Copyrights were created by Congress in 1897 as a separate department of the Library of Congress. The Office’s registration system and the companion recordation system constitute the world’s largest database of copyrighted works and copyright ownership information. This website also includes brief biographies of each Register of the Copyright, dating back to Thorvald Solberg in July 1897 to the current Register. In addition, this federal resource offers several pdf documents, compiled under the heading, "Copyright Lore", describing some of the Office's highlights (e.g.: its holdings of the world's largest card catalog: over 45 million cards in more than 25,000 drawers).

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of over 100 research libraries at comprehensive, research institutions in the US and Canada, including the University of Virginia, that share similar research missions, aspirations, and achievements. This resource includes valuable information about the Fair Use policy, especially its"Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries." In addition, the website includes a detailed description of the Google Book Search Library Project, initiated in 2008, enabling academic libraries to scan and upload copyrighted books that are not commercially available, etc.

This chart, created by Peter B. Hirtle, is a useful tool for establishing whether or not something is in the public domain.

Provides an overview of procedures for contacting and requesting permission from a copyright owner to use a copyrighted work. Includes sample letters.