To tell if music is copyrighted, start from the assumption that it is. Copyright attaches automatically the moment a song is written down or recorded, with no registration, no © symbol, and no notice required. From there, you confirm ownership by searching the U.S. Copyright Office records and the major performing rights organization databases, checking the release date against the public domain timelines, and reading any license the track was released under. If none of those steps clears the song, treat it as protected.
Copyright Is Automatic, So Assume Yes First
Federal law protects a musical work from the moment it is fixed in a tangible form, whether that means sheet music on paper or an audio file on a hard drive. Registration is optional.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 408 – Copyright Registration in General A song with no copyright symbol on the file, no entry in any database, and no visible owner is still copyrighted. The absence of a notice tells you nothing about the song’s status.
Registration does raise the stakes. A copyright holder cannot file a federal infringement lawsuit unless the work has been registered (or an application filed), and registration is what unlocks statutory damages and attorney’s fees. So an unregistered song is still protected, but a registered song is far more dangerous to use without permission.
Every Song Has Two Separate Copyrights
Before you search anything, understand what you are searching for. Each piece of recorded music can carry two distinct copyrights.2U.S. Copyright Office. What Musicians Should Know about Copyright
The composition copyright covers the melody, harmony, and lyrics. Songwriters, composers, or their publishers usually own it. The sound recording copyright covers the specific captured performance you hear on playback. Record labels, producers, or recording artists typically own that one.3U.S. Copyright Office. Circular 56A – Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings
The two are licensed separately. If you want to record your own cover, you need permission from the composition owner. If you want to drop an existing recording into a video, you need permission for that recording on top of the composition. A single song like “Bohemian Rhapsody” has one composition copyright held by the songwriter’s estate and publisher and a separate sound recording copyright held by the record label, and both require separate clearance.
Where to Search Copyright Records
No single database is complete. Plan to check more than one.
The U.S. Copyright Office
The Copyright Public Records System is free and searchable by song title, author name, or registration number. It covers registrations from 1898 to 1945 and from 1978 to the present.4U.S. Copyright Office. Search Copyright Records Results show the registered owner, the registration date, and whether the record is for a composition or a sound recording.
A missing result is not proof the song is free. Plenty of copyrighted songs are never registered, and unregistered songs are still protected. Use the Copyright Office search as one input, not a verdict.
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC are performing rights organizations that license public performance of compositions on behalf of songwriters and publishers. Each keeps a searchable online repertoire.5ASCAP. ASCAP Music Licensing FAQs
BMI’s Songview tool is the most useful starting point because it displays aggregated ownership data for nearly 40 million works across the BMI and ASCAP repertoires. When a song shows the Songview checkmark, the songwriter names, publisher names, and ownership shares have been verified as consistent between both organizations.6BMI. BMI Songview Search A PRO search identifies the composition owners. It will not tell you who owns a particular recording.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective
The Mechanical Licensing Collective, created by the Music Modernization Act, runs a free public search of its song ownership database. It is most useful when you want to record a cover, because cover versions require a mechanical license for the underlying composition. The MLC’s data comes from its members, so it is not authoritative for recording ownership, but it helps identify composition owners and their shares.7Mechanical Licensing Collective. Public Search – MLC Portal
Read the © and ℗ Notices on the Release
Physical albums, digital release pages, and liner notes usually carry two symbols that do different jobs. The © symbol identifies the composition copyright, followed by the year of first publication and the owner’s name. The ℗ symbol, a P inside a circle, identifies the sound recording copyright in the same year-and-name format.8U.S. Copyright Office. 17 USC Chapter 4 – Copyright Notice, Deposit, and Registration
A typical album might show “© 2024 Universal Music Publishing” for the compositions and “℗ 2024 Interscope Records” for the recordings. Those are two different owners, and which one you contact depends on how you plan to use the music. If neither symbol appears, the work is still protected.
Check Whether the Song Is in the Public Domain
Music enters the public domain when its copyright term expires, and anyone can then use it without permission or payment. The rules differ for compositions and recordings, and this is where people regularly get tripped up.
Compositions
For songs created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. For a co-written song, the clock starts when the last surviving author dies.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 302 – Duration of Copyright: Works Created on or After January 1, 1978 For works made for hire and for anonymous or pseudonymous works, the term is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever comes first.10U.S. Copyright Office. How Long Does Copyright Protection Last?
For older published works, the shorthand is simpler. Compositions published before 1931 are in the public domain as of January 1, 2026, because their maximum 95-year term has expired. Each January 1, another year’s worth of works joins them. A composition published in 1930 is free to use; one published in 1931 stays protected through the end of 2026.
Sound Recordings
Sound recordings run on a separate timeline set by the CLASSICS Act, part of the Music Modernization Act, which brought pre-1972 recordings into the federal system for the first time.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 1401 – Unauthorized Fixation and Trafficking in Sound Recordings and Music Videos The protection periods break down by when the recording was first published:
- Published before 1926: now in the public domain. Recordings from 1925 entered on January 1, 2026, when their 100-year protection ended.
- Published 1926 through 1946: protected for 100 years from publication. A 1940 recording is protected through the end of 2040.
- Published 1947 through 1956: protected for 110 years from publication. A 1950 recording is protected through the end of 2060.
- Fixed between 1957 and February 15, 1972: all protection ends on February 15, 2067, regardless of when the recording was made.
The two-copyright split creates a common trap. A composition can be in the public domain while a specific recording of it is still locked down. Beethoven’s symphonies are long past copyright, but a 1960 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra is protected until 2067. You can perform the composition yourself; you cannot copy that recording.
Look for a Creative Commons or Other Open License
Some musicians voluntarily release work under Creative Commons licenses that grant specific permissions in advance. Creative Commons does not replace copyright: the creator still owns the work but has allowed defined uses.12Creative Commons. About CC Licenses The main license types you will see:
- CC BY (Attribution): any use, including commercial, as long as you credit the creator.
- CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike): same as CC BY, but a remix or derivative must carry the same license.
- CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial): remix and share, but noncommercial only. Monetized videos and client work are out.
- CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives): share as-is, even commercially, but no remixing, sampling, or altering.
- CC0 (Public Domain Dedication): the creator has waived all rights; no attribution required.
Read the specific license before using a track. “Creative Commons” alone tells you nothing, and violating the terms is still infringement.
Short Clips and Fair Use Are Not a Shortcut
Fair use allows limited unauthorized use for purposes like criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, and research. It is not a general permission slip for background music. Courts weigh four factors together: the purpose and character of the use (commercial cuts against you, transformative use helps), the nature of the work (music is creative, which rarely helps), the amount used, and the effect on the market for the original.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 107 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
There is no bright-line rule. Ten seconds is not automatically fair; a full song is not automatically infringing. Even a brief clip can fail the test if it captures the hook. If real money rides on the answer, get a legal opinion before you publish.
What Happens if You Use It Anyway
Platforms check even when users do not. YouTube’s Content ID scans every upload against a database of files submitted by rights holders and lets the owner block the video, monetize it themselves, or track it.14YouTube Help. How Content ID Works Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, and TikTok run similar systems that can flag a few seconds of a protected recording.
Beyond automated flags, rights holders can send a DMCA takedown notice, and the platform must remove the material promptly to keep its own liability shield.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 512 – Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online A registered owner can also sue in federal court, where statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work and up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits Smaller disputes can go to the Copyright Claims Board, which handles claims up to $30,000 in total damages without a full federal lawsuit.17Copyright Claims Board. Frequently Asked Questions
A Short Check to Run Before You Use a Track
Search the Copyright Public Records System at copyright.gov by song title and author. If the song does not appear there, search ASCAP and BMI, which cover close to 40 million works between them. For older material, compare the publication date against the composition and sound recording timelines above; remember that a public domain composition does not free a modern recording of it.
If the track carries a Creative Commons license, read the exact license and follow it. If you find the owner but no open license, contact the publisher or label to negotiate one. Many have licensing departments that handle these requests as routine business.
What you should not do is assume music is free because you found it online, because no © appears next to it, or because you only need a few seconds. Copyright is automatic, notices are optional, and short clips are not automatically fair use. When you cannot confirm the song is clear, either get written permission or choose a track that is explicitly licensed for what you plan to do.