Copyright Info

Need to find the ownership of a song? Find copyright contact info for a specific song using our song search. Note that information is constantly changing – so if you find something that is not current, please let us know!

PrairieView Press has been working with copyright companies for almost 30 years, and will be glad to do the copyright work on any songbook project for you! (See the “Songbook” section under Printing Services for more info on this.)

We are receiving an increasing number of calls requesting contact information for copyright companies, and we’re glad that there is a growing awareness of copyright laws regarding copying songs for church or school use, or for typesetting, arranging, or recording purposes.

Because of our work in dealing with copyright companies in our songbook projects, we’ve built up a fairly large database of their contact info. You can find that info using our song search from the side menu, or purchase and download a pdf here. Feel free to contact us with any questions you have regarding copyrights or copyright companies.

Some places online where you can search and obtain copyright permission for songs are www.musicservices.org, www.capitolcmgpublishing.com and www.ccli.com. These companies represent many copyright owners. The following companies handle performance rights and have extensive indices listing songs and publishers: www.ascap.com, www.bmi.com, and www.sesac.com.

A few points regarding songs found in songbooks we have published:

• If the song has no copyright notice printed at the bottom of the page, according to our knowledge it can be considered public domain and can be used, copied, or arranged free of charge for any purpose. (Note that we can’t guarantee this to apply to the copyright status of songs in books not published by us. See below for more information on books by other publishers.)
• Some songs may have a notice saying “Copyright by PrairieView Press.” Most of the time this denotes a song that was first published by PrairieView Press. PrairieView Press does not actually own any songs, and the rights remain with the author. You will need to contact them if you need permission to use a song. We can refer you to the author, or you can find their contact info on our copyright list.
• If PrairieView Press has a copyright notice on the copyright page at the front of a songbook, this covers the book itself – the unique selection of songs, typesetting, etc. This does not mean that we own the songs. However, if you wish to copy our typeset song for a for-profit songbook, even if it is a public domain song, please contact us.

Some info on songbooks by other publishers:

• Some songbooks have copyright notices listed in the front or the back of the book. If there are no notices by the songs, check for a copyright acknowledgements page. If there are no copyright notices anywhere in the book, check our song search as it could be that the publisher did not do copyright work correctly. A rule of thumb is: any song copyrighted in 1923 or after is still copyrighted.
• Remember, original songs may be in public domain and yet arrangements may be copyrighted, so make sure you are using the original public domain and not a copyrighted arrangement if you are not contacting anyone for copyright permission. If two songs appear identical and one has a copyright notice in one book and no notice in another book, check with the publisher listed. The song may have gone into public domain, OR the one publisher may have not done his homework and may have published a copyrighted song as a public domain song.