How do you find out the copyright date of a published song?

Answer 1

Copyrighting a song is actually fairly easy. The U.S. Copyright Act of 1909 states that an original work is copyrighted as soon as it is in a fixed and tangible form. In other words, the second that you record that song (whether it be a professional studio, or a tape recorder), it is a protected copyright. Fixed and tangible doesn't have to be a recording either, it can be transcribed into notes on a page as well. Registration is not mandatory for copyright protection, however, it does provide some extra benefits to the copyright owner, if an infringement case arises.

Here's an article that explains it step by step:

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/BIZ-WIKI/Music-Publishing.html

Answer 2

Copyright is free and automatic, starting from the instant your song is fixed in any tangible form, such as notes on paper, sounds on tape, or a digital record in a computer.

You may optionally register your claim of authorship under the laws of a few countries, but the USA only requires registration if you are going to sue in federal court.

Answer 3

Anything 1978 or later, or 1964-1977 with a copyright notice, will still be protected. In the US, anything prior to 1923 is not. The problem is the window between 1923 and 1963, and works first published outside the US.

For US materials 1923-1963, songs will be protected if they were published with proper copyright and renewed at 28 years, and public domain if they were not. Unfortunately, the Copyright Office's online catalog doesn't go back far enough to catch most of those renewals, so the only way to tell is to order a search of the paper records, which can be very expensive. Properly renewed works would have a copyright duration of 95 years from date of first publication.

For works published outside the US, you need to know the year the composer or last contributor died, and in which country the works were created or published. So if the guy who wrote the words died in 1953 and the guy who wrote the music died in 1935, you'd use 1953+70 to see that it would be protected through 2023. Unless he was Canadian. Isn't this fun?

Sound recordings of a performance of the song are somewhat easier: everything prior to 1972 is still protected through February 15, 2067 at the earliest; everything after that had to follow the federal copyright laws, and would last 95 years from publication or 70 years after the death of all performers on the recording (i.e., the joint authors of the work). assuming they published with notice or registered until it was no longer required. Again, foreign rights are substantially different. Unpublished works

Answer 4

Given the lack of formalities in copyright registration, a work is protected as soon is it is fixed; as such, it can be assumed that any work you encounter is protected unless specified otherwise.

Answer 5

If you don't have sheet music or liner notes to refer to, the most likely source is the performing rights organizations linked below.

Answer 6

If you have sheet music, it should be printed on the bottom of the first page.

Answer 7

Most often it will be indicated on or in the item. If not, there are various databases based on the type of work you're looking at.

Answer 8

Consider formal copyright registration if it is available in your country.