Entertainment Law Resources
- U.S. Copyright Act (United States Code, Title 17)
- Berne Treaty
- Lanham Act
- U.S. Copyright Office
- Forms for Registration of Copyright
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
- Forms for Trademark Application
- Entertainment & Sports Law Journal
- Recent Copyright Legislation News
- International Trademark Association
- Music Publishers’ Association’s Resource Links
- Copyright Clearance Center
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 50 (Instructions regarding registration of musical compositions)
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 56 (Instructions regarding registration of sound recordings)
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 56a (Discusses distinction between musical composition and sound recording copyrights)
- Copyright & Fair Use
- Copyright Myths Explained
- Copyright Website
- The Copyright Society of the USA
- R. Mark Halligan’s Trade Secrets Home Page
Nashville Record Labels
- Capitol Nashville
- Sony Music Nashville
- Warner Music Nashville
- Curb Records
- Universal Music Group Nashville
- Word Entertainment Group
Chart & Other Nashville Publications
- Billboard
- Billboard Top Country Albums
- Music Row Magazine
- The Nashville Scene
- Nashville Business Journal
- The Tennessean
Mechanical Rights Organizations
Performance Rights Organizations
- BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.)
- ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers)
- SESAC, Inc. (Privately Owned)
- The Harry Fox Agency (Mechanical Collection)
- Performing Right Society (England)
- MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) (England)
- GEMA (The German Authors’ Rights Society) (Performance and Mechanical Collection)
- Belgium Society of Authors, Composers & Publishers (Performance and Mechanical Collection)
- APRA (New Zealand & Australia Mechanical Collection)
- The Nordic Copyright Bureau (Norway Performance Rights)
- TONO (Norway Mechanical Collection)
- BUMA/STERMA
- (Dutch & Netherlands Copyright Society)
Other Music Industry Organizations
- Country Music Association
- GAC
- Nashville Songwriters Association, International
- Historic Ryman Auditorium
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- National Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences (NARAS)
- Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
- National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)
- Songwriters Guild of America (SGA)
- National Academy of Songwriters (NAS)
- National Endowment for the Arts
- American Federation of Musicians (AFM) of the United States & Canada
- Nashville Musician’s Union (Local AFM)
- Electronic Music Foundation
Intellectual Property
Practical Approach Series–Fair Use: When Do I Need to Ask for Permission to Post a Copyrighted Work to My Social Media? GalleryPractical Approach Series–Fair Use: When Do I Need to Ask for Permission to Post a Copyrighted Work to My Social Media?
Copyright Issues, Entertainment Industry News, Entertainment Law, Fair Use, Internet Law, Social Media, Technology
Practical Approach Series–Fair Use: When Do I Need to Ask for Permission to Post a Copyrighted Work to My Social Media?
By Cheshire Rigler Can a band member post photographs of their concerts to their webpage or social media if they are taken by an unrelated photographer? Can the Instagram posts and stories of [...]
Marvel Comics and the Power of Licensing
by Madeline Rains, edited by BNSesq The backbone of Marvel Comics has always been the wealth of intellectual property possessed by the company. Its success was based around complete ownership of its characters, until [...]
Intellectual Property Law: Is it relevant in today’s high speed digital age?
Editors Note: Today we begin an intriguing series of articles regarding the relevance of intellectual property concepts in an age in which the likes of John Perry Barlow, founder of the EFF, have declared [...]
The Plight of the Starving Artist – the CLASSICS Act may provide some relief.
UPDATE - Since this article was written in 2017, the CLASSICS Act was incorporated in the Music Modernization Act, passed in December 2019. The plight of the “starving artist” is timeless and history is replete with [...]
Secret Blend of 11 Herbs: Three Things to Know about the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Acts
By Drew Harris How delicious are those 11 “secret herbs and spices” assembled by Harland Sanders in 1930 for his popular “Kentucky Fried Chicken” sold at his local service station? It was so “finger lickin’ [...]
Lessons Learned: Ghostwriter Tony Schwartz disparages Trump and his book “The Art of the Deal”
By Erin Thiele and Barry Neil Shrum, Esq. In the mid-1980s, Donald Trump approached Tony Schwartz to ghost write his autobiography. At this point in time, Trump was in his early 30s and did [...]