Useful copyright database

[musicus]

If you haven't already discovered it: "the WATCH File (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders) is a database containing primarily the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom."

The WATCH file is a valuable resource for composers seeking information about text copyrights. The File is at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/

Musicus

[Gwyn]

Great link.

Thanks Musicus.

[sidvicius]

Errr - am I using it wrong? I just typed in some popular names (Graham[e] Kendrick, Tom Kendzia, Twila Paris, Rick Founds, Dave Richards, Dan Schutte, Tom McGuinness, Patrick Appleford, even Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts) - it didn't find any of them!

I typed in 'Smith, John' and got two hits - one 'in media' and the other an evolutionary biologist.....

[musicus]

Errr - am I using it wrong? I just typed in some popular names (Graham[e] Kendrick, Tom Kendzia, Twila Paris, Rick Founds, Dave Richards, Dan Schutte, Tom McGuinness, Patrick Appleford, even Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts) - it didn't find any of them!.

It won't find Wesley or Watts because they are no longer in copyright. As to the others, they're obviously not "great" enough! Try "Thomas, Dylan", "Owen, Wilfred", "Hughes, Ted", "Milligan, Spike" - they all work.

WATCH is primarily a database of writers. I had in mind those occasions when a composer wants to use a text or a poem (say, from an anthology) and needs to know where to go for permission.

M

[sidvicius]

Bucketloads of Copyright Holders Addresses HERE. Best of all, it's an Acrobat file, so a nice tidy download/print format.