• What is copyright?
• What does HFA do, exactly?
• What is a Compulsory Mechanical License and the Statutory Rate?
• What are Master Use Rights?
• What is a Sample?
• What is a mechanical license?
• What is a Publisher?
• What is a Licensee?

As stated on the U.S. Library of Congress website ( http://www.copyright.gov/):

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

• To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
• To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work;
• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

If you would like more detailed information about copyrights, the link above to the U.S. Copyright Office provides general information on copyright basics, copyright application forms and other copyright-related resources.

The Harry Fox Agency represents music publishers for their mechanical and digital licensing needs. We issue licenses and collect and distribute royalties on our affiliated publisher's behalf. This includes licensing for the recording and reproduction of CDs, ringtones, and Internet downloads. HFA no longer issues synchronization (or synch) licenses for the use of music in advertising, movies, music videos, and TV programs, but we do collect and distribute on synch licenses which we granted prior to discontinuing that service in 2002.

HFA is often confused with the performing rights societies, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Performing rights are separate and apart from mechanical rights, and are necessary to obtain for public performance of copyrighted music, such as at concerts, radio and television broadcasts, and the like. We suggest you contact these companies if you are interested in any performance rights or synch licenses. These companies also represent songwriters and publishers for the placement of their music in films and for use by other performers. HFA does not provide any of these services.

Neither HFA nor the performing rights companies issue the rights for printed lyric reproduction.

For "master use" or sampling rights, you need to contact the owner of the master recording directly for permission. This is usually the record company.

If a composition has already been commercially recorded and released to the general public, and you wish to record and distribute that composition yourself (and you are not the original songwriter), you can obtain a compulsory mechanical license. This is outlined in section 115 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act. The Harry Fox Agency mechanical license is a written variation of the compulsory license. The royalty rate (what gets paid to the music publisher) is set by law, and is known as the "statutory rate." For information on the current statutory rates, click here.

Master use rights are required for previously recorded material that you do not own or control. The Harry Fox Agency does not process licenses for master use rights. They can only be obtained from the owner of the master recording, usually a record company In order to expedite processing, we recommend that you obtain the master use license from the owner prior to requesting a mechanical license from The Harry Fox Agency.

A sample is typically the use of an excerpt of a sound recording embodying a copyrighted composition inserted in another sound recording. This process is often referred to as digital sampling and requires licenses for the use of the portion of the composition and the sound recording that was re-used in the new sound recording. In some instances, artists re-record the portion of the composition used in the new recording and, therefore, only need to obtain a license for the use of the sampled composition.

A mechanical license grants the rights to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical compositions (songs) on phonorecords (i.e. CDs, records, tapes, and certain digital configurations). The Harry Fox Agency was established to license, collect, and distribute royalties on behalf of U.S. publishers that own and/or control the rights to musical compositions. Simply stated, if you want to record and distribute a song that was written by someone else, or if your business requires the distribution of music that was written by others, you must obtain a mechanical license.

Mechanical rights should not be confused with "master rights" that are granted by a record company in order to use an existing recording, or with "performance rights" that are granted by publishers or societies for the public performance of a song. Depending on the use, one may also have to obtain these rights in addition to the mechanical license.

The Harry Fox Agency issues mechanical licenses for phonorecords distributed in the United States (including territories and possessions) only.

A music publisher owns or administers works written by songwriters. Publishing companies range from large, multi-national corporations to individual, self-published songwriters. Publishers discover and promote songwriting talent, as well as provide important business services for their songwriters. These services include pitching their song catalog to music executives, recording artists, producers, managers and others to secure placement for the songs on appropriate commercial recordings. In addition, music publishers finance and produce demo recordings, pitch songs for television shows, movies, and commercials, collect royalties, and issue licenses. Music publishers also register and enforce the copyrights they administer.

A licensee is a person or business entity who has been granted a license to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical works to the public for private use within the U.S. HFA licensees range from garage bands and religious organizations to record companies and online music services to ringtone companies and digital background music providers. Under U.S. Copyright law, in order to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical works, users must obtain a proper license. HFA acts as the publisher's agent for mechanical licensing transactions.