How do you determine the copyright status of a song?

Question

I am trying to compile a book of camp songs. Some of the songs are under copyright protection still, some are no longer under copyright protection, and many are of unclear copyright status.

With a song, the lyrics and the tune could have different status. If I can find a published version of the song, it's easy to determine the status. However, it's not easy to find many of the songs, and even if the lyrics are Public Domain, how can I find out about the tune?

What methods are there (short of blind luck stumbling about) to tell if a song is copyrighted or not?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It is really not possible to do much until you can associate the name of a composer with the song. Composers usually join one of the rights organizations, ASCAP, BMI or SECAC. All three have on-line database. If your song shows up there, then it is in rights because they are collecting royalties.

In Berne countries, your task is to determine the death date of the composer for older works. International protection is plus fifty years, except for EU countries is plus seventy years. Works written in the US would have to have been published prior to 1925 to be in public domain, or to have not renewed rights prior to 1964.

There is a lot of detail on this at the blog www.ozro.us

Answer 2

The copyright term is the life of the author plus 70 years for works created after January 1, 1978.