How to Give Credit to a Copyrighted Song

Copyrights protects original works of authorship from unauthorized use.

There are two kinds of music copyrights -- musical work copyrights and sound recording copyrights. The musical work copyright goes to the person(s) who owns the master recording of the song. Generally this ownership belongs to the record label. The sound recording copyright goes to whoever owns the composition of the song. Generally this ownership belongs to the songwriter, unless the songwriter gives away his publishing rights. To give credit to a copyrighted song you must first establish who the song's copyright owners are. Credit is then based on how you’re using the copyrighted song.

Instructions

1. Go to the Public Catalog web page on the Library of Congress website. Conduct a search for copyrighted song. You can use the Library of Congress' online Public Catalog to determine the ownership of song created after 1978.

2. Contact the copyright claimant for written permission to use the copyright song. If you don’t have permission to use the song, even if you give the proper credit, you’re breaking U.S. copyright laws.

3. Insert the following in the song credits if you used a sample of a copyrighted song to create a new piece of work:

   Contains a sample of "(Song Title)” by (Performers) courtesy of (sound recording copyright claimant).

4. Place the following in the song credit if you rerecorded or performed a cover version (a remake) of a copyrighted song:

   (Song Title)
   Written by (songwriters / composers).
   Published by (musical work copyright claimant).

5. Write the following in the song credits if you used the performance of the copyrighted song in a another piece of work (a film, for example):

   (Song Title)
   Written by (songwriters / composers).
   Performed by (artist).
   Courtesy of (sound recording copyright claimant).

Tips & Warnings

• To determine the copyright ownership of a song that was created before 1978 you can visit the Copyright Public Records Reading Room at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to look up the information, you can submit a copyright “Search Request Form” to have a Library of Congress staff member search for the record for you at a cost of $165 per hour or you can examine the inside jacket of the album.

References

• University of New Hampshire School of Law: Copyright Licensing in Music Distribution, Reproduction, and Public Performance
• Copyright: Copyright Law of the United States of America

Resources

• Library of Congress: Public Catalog
• Copyright: Search Request Form