Songlearning.com

Why is it necessary to pay mechanical license fees to music publishers when using rehearsal CDs of music protected under the current US copyright law? Mechanical license fees are due to music publishers when music they have published, which is protected under current US copyright law, is used on rehearsal CDs. Please see the link below for current rates.

A self explanatory, single page form is included with each shipment of Master Song-Learning CDs™ of works protected under current US copyright law which allows you to easily compute the mechanical license fee due for the number of duplicates you make of the major work you ordered. The form includes the address of the music publisher. Works which are in the public domain or not protected under current US copyright law require no mechanical license fee.

When you consider the large amount of rehearsal time saved by using rehearsal CDs, the small amount spent on mechanical license fees is money well spent. HMS encourages you to do the right thing by paying the small fee to the music publisher.

Reminder: HMS pays the mechanical license fees on Individual Song-Learning CDs™ for music protected under the current US copyright law or music not in the public domain, so you may want to consider ordering Individual Song-Learning CDs™ which arrive all ready to pass out to choir members, saving you the hassle of duplicating and labeling CDs, and having to pay the mechanical license fees.

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/