RE: Re: Publishing song titles and artist names on a commercial web site

Steven Jamar wrote:
> Keeping in mind that I am responding only to this very specific and
> narrow request and no attorney-client relationship is created by my
> response, here it is:

I am not an attorney so my advice is even less valuable than Steven's.  

> Factual bibliographic and indexing sorts of information are not
> protected by copyright. Under copyright law you do not need permission
> to publish (online or anywhere else) a listing of composers, songs,
> performers, or other such basic, factual information.

Since a web publication is made world-wide and is quite likely to be accessed from other English-speaking countries, you may need to worry about copyright laws of other countries, not just the US. If you are creating the list yourself, there should be no problem in other English speaking countries either. You do not need permission from the owner of the copyright in the song to publish the name of the song, composer, or performer or other similar factual information.

> On Apr 24, 2006, at 11:45 AM, Onur Polat wrote:
> > I'm thinking over publishing song titles and artist names on a
> > web site, on which there also will be commercial advertisements.
> > It will be like this:
> > "Songs about love:
> > I love you - Frank Lovetra
> > I love you too - Jennifer Lovezz
> > "

> > Do I need to get permission for publishing such information?
> > Please note that the site will be a commercial one, and
> > there will appear advertisements on the pages with these lists.
> > Also note that lyrics or the music itself will not be published.
> > Just the titles of the songs and artists that sing / play /
> > composed them.

In the US, you may be able to publish a list compiled by somebody else, if you did not compile the list and are publishing a list compiled by somebody else, there may be a copyright action against you for the compilation in other English-speaking countries.

You should also be careful about incorrect attribution as there may be moral rights issues in some countries.
Regards,
Tim

| Timothy Arnold-Moore Ph.D., LL.B., B.Sc.(Hons)
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