April 6, 2022 – Music law is a collection of laws and business practices necessary to protect artists and individuals involved in the creation and production of music, in any form it takes.¹

Anyone who seeks a career in the entertainment industry must learn how to protect and manage the rights to their creative work. This article provides music law resources for legal professional, educators, and anyone interested a career in the performing arts.

U.S. Code: Copyright and Trademark Law

Every resource on music law begins with federal copyright law and trademark rights for performing artists and their works, so I will begin by listing links to these resources.

Copyright laws (17 U.S.C. §§ 101-1332) protect music, lyrics, and the sound recordings of artists. In addition, and perhaps not as well known, copyright law protects visual arts, packaging, advertising, and promotional material connected to the creative work.

Trademark laws (15 U.S.C. §§ 1051-1141n) protect logos, merchandising, licensing, and packaging, and can include color, sound, and scent.²

Federal Laws that Amend the Copyright Act

• Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) amends the Copyright Act, section 114. The DMCA allows compulsory license of the sound recordings of public performance rights to non-interactive audio transmissions or webcasting.³

• Digital Performance Right in Sound Recording Act (DPRA) 17 U.S.C. § 106(6) grants owners of copyright to sound recording a right to perform publicly using audio transmissions.

• Music Modernization Act (MMA) -This webpage from the United States Copyright Office provides material on the MMA, which updates the copyright laws to protect digital licensing rights.

• Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1994 – Anti-bootlegging provisions can be found in the Copyright Act § 1101.

For more on current copyright laws, check out the U.S. Copyright Office circular: The Copyright Act of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.

Federal Agency Resources

The U.S. Copyright Office website contains too many resources to list, but one resource stands out if you are unfamiliar with copyright:What Musicians Should Know About Copyright.

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division enforces federal antitrust laws, and the U.S. Department of Justice IP Task Force has a multilevel strategy between state, federal, and international partners to combat IP crimes.

Department of Justice resources on music law and copyright:

• The Department of Justice Manual has a chapter on copyright law.

• Prosecuting Intellectual Property Crimes, published by the Office of Legal Education Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (2013), is a manual for federal prosecutors.

• An interesting read is the workshop agenda for the department’s Office of Public Affairs’ Workshop On Competition In The Licensing Of Public Performance Rights In The Music Industry, held in July 2020. See the events transcript on Competition in Licensing Music Public Performance Rights.

• The department also has an extensive list of antitrust case filings. You can search for filings by keyword, date, court, or a variety of filters provided to the left of the screen.

Tutorials and Instructional Resources on Copyright Law

Here are some tutorials on copyright law from government offices and academic sites. These include instructions on how to file for copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.

• The U.S. Copyright Office Registration Tutorials website provides instructions and “how to file” tutorials.

• The College of William & Mary Music Library has three copyright tutorials on YouTube.

• The U.W.-Madison Office of Legal Affairs website has a FAQ on Copyright Law for instructors that includes fair use and when you can copy sheet music.

Research Guides

For those who need additional research on music law, the special libraries that collect resources on this topic are law libraries and music libraries.

You can find these special libraries at universities and private institutions that support careers in those fields. Academic libraries create copyright guides for students and faculty, and these guides are useful for locating legal resources.

Here are research guides on copyright and music law:

• Music Career Resources from the Mills Music Library, U.W.-Madison

• Copyright law resources from the U.W. Law Library

• State Law Library’s Start Here Series: Arts and Entertainment: a list of resources

• Marquette University Law Library’s Research Guide on Copyright Law

Other academic law library research guides include:

• Columbia University Libraries: Copyright Basics and their Copyright Advisory Services.

• Georgetown Law Libraries: Music Law Research Guide, which provides resources on the basics of copyright and music law.

• Ohio State University Libraries: Copyright Basics – an overview of the basics of copyright lists public domain resources.

• Princeton University Libraries: Music Industry and Business: A Guide to Research and Resources. This guide includes a “search strategies” tab that you may find useful.

• University of Hartford Libraries: Copyright for Music provides licensing information as well as copyright basics.

• University of Illinois Libraries: Copyright Resources for Music: Copyright Basics.

• University of Michigan Libraries: Obtaining Copyright Permissions.

• Washington State University Libraries: Music and Copyright.

If you cannot find what you are looking for in one of these research guides, a search strategy to locate more research guides is to string together “music law AND libguide” or "music law AND research guide" in Google, for example​​. (Note that the “AND” needs to be all capital letters.)

Books on Music Law

The U.W.-Madison campus has two libraries where you can find books, periodicals, and material on music law; The Mills Music Library located inside Memorial Library, and the U.W. Law Library.

Here are some books available at these libraries. These books are available for checkout if you fill out an application for a community borrowing card.

• 11 Contracts that Every Artist, Songwriter, and Producer Should Know

• Music and Copyright Law​​​

• Music law : Changing Landscapes in the Music Industry and the Law that Governs it

• Music Law for the General Practitioner

• Music law in the Digital Age: Copyright Essentials for Today's Music Business

• The Little Book of Music Law

Marquette University Law Library owns a copy of the fifth edition of Kohn on Music Licensing. The author, Bob Kohn, also has a website that provides links to music law resources, including books on music law, copyright resources, performing rights organizations, broadcast associations, songwriter organizations, and much more.

Books Available on Legal Databases

There are legal treatises available on entertainment law in Lexis+ and WestlawEdge:

• Entertainment Industry Contracts: Part V is Music Contracts. Lexis provides this treatise on entertainment law. If you have a subscription to Lexis+, enter “Entertainment Industry Contracts” in the search box, select, scroll to Part V and open with the plus sign.

• Lindey on Entertainment, Publishing & the Arts, WestlawEdge. See Chapter 8: Music.

State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE Books and Seminars

State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE^© publishes books and periodically holds CLE sessions that cover topics on intellectual property, copyright, and other related legal topics. These include:

• Intellectual Property in Wisconsin, a PINNACLE book, has a section on musical works in the chapter on copyright;

• COVID-19: Considerations for IP Protections 2021, an OnDemand seminar;

• Lessons Learned From Intellectual Property Practice 2020, an OnDemand seminar;

• Your Firm Has IP. What Are You Doing with It? WSSFC 2021, a Webcast and OnDemand seminar.

Subscription Databases on Music

Topical databases on the music industry are available at the U.W.-Madison Mills Music Library, and can be accessed from any library on campus.

• Music Index – This database provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts of classical and modern music.

• Musical America – This database is a business source for the performing arts, providing press releases, news, and an online international directory of the performing arts, as well as a directory of cover music and dance performance organizations.

• Music Periodical Database – Provides 1.3 million articles dating from 1871 to current, indexing, and abstracts of over 425 international journals.

For more databases on the subject of music, see the Mills Music Library webpage.

Websites for Public Domain and Royalty-free Music

These three websites offer access to, and discussions about, music that is in the public domain or that is free of copyright and royalties:

• Creative Commons

• Public Domain Information Project

• Free Music Archive

Performance Rights Organizations and Dispute Resolution Services

• Arts Mediation Group – provides mediation services for individuals in entertainment and the arts.

• ASCAP – One of the two largest performing rights organizations in the U.S. ASCAP also has a global reach. This website provides information and resources for performing rights and licensing fees.

• BMI – One of the two largest performing rights organizations in the U.S. This website provides information and resources for performing rights and licensing fees.

• Lawyers for the Creative Arts – Located in Chicago, this organization offers dispute resolution services. Provides seminars and workshops for artists and other non-lawyers.

• JAM​S – Entertainment and Sports Dispute Resolution Service.

• NACUBO – National Association of College and University Business Officers, provides information on music copyright.

• NARIP – National Association of Recording Industry Professionals, an organization that markets and monetizes music.

• RIAA – Recording Industry of America, which represents record labels and protects artists’ creative freedom.

• SESAC – A smaller performing rights organization, but still representing many big-name musicians.⁴

• Sound Exchange – A performing rights organization that manages the rights for streaming audio, including satellite radio, internet radio, and more.

• Harry Fox Agency – Handles mechanical and digital licenses. From the University of Hartford Research Guide on Music Copyright, “This should be your starting point if you are looking to secure the rights to produce a recording.”⁵

International IP Organization

The World Intellectual Property Organizations (WIPO) provides a free legal database, WIPO Lex. This database includes IP information from across the world.

Miscellaneous Music Law Resources

Listed below are two websites. The first provides a list of case law on the topic of music law and the second link is a legal blog on infringement in music.

• famous copyright infringement plagiarism cases in music on fairwagelawyers.com.

• blog on infringement of music – Music Copyright Infringement Resource.

Now This (Just for Fun)

Many music libraries now digitize music collections and make them available online, from blues to rock to the classics and pops.

If you would like to browse one of those collections, Cornell University Library digitized a collection on Hip Hop, Cornell Digital Hip-Hop Collection, while the Library of Congress offers a large digital collection of performing arts.

Further Resources and Where to Get Help

A librarian can direct you to trusted legal practice materials. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these libraries:

• Wisconsin State Law Library
  608) 267-9696
  wsll.ref@wicourts.gov
  Ask a Librarian online form

• University of Wisconsin Law Library
  (608) 262-3394
  askuwlaw@law.wisc.edu
  Chat Service (available only during reference hours)

• Ray & Kay Eckstein Law Library - Marquette University Law School
  (414) 288-3837
  Online reference desk email form

Endnotes

¹ Thomas R. Leavens, Music Law For The General Practitioner, American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries (2013).

²Id. at 21. In footnote 62, Leavens cites to a claim protecting a performer’s costume (seeNaked Cowboy v CBS, 844 F. Supp. 2d 510 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

³ Leavens at 160.

⁴ See under heading “Licensing Agencies” from the University of Hartford Research Guide, Copyright for Music: Licensing Permissions.

⁵ Many of the licensing organization and descriptions in this list are from a research guide created by the librarians at the University of Harford called Copyright for Music: Licensing/Permissions.