For copyright information from an existing recording, look for the album copyright information on the back of the CD cover. Legally downloaded digital files embed this information in the file itself. Use your computer to view copyright information in the file’s property details.
Finding the publishing copyright is more of a challenge. Make sure you know the actual title of the song you want to research. For example, that catchy little tune whistled by the Harlem Globetrotters may be the Harlem Globetrotters theme, but the name of the song is “Sweet Georgia Brown.” A search using any other title may not give you accurate results.
Visit the “ACE Title Search” page on the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) website (see Resources below). Read the page carefully. ASCAP provides an exhaustive description of what is and is not contained in its database. The page also helps you interpret the search results so you can get precisely the copyright information you are looking for. When you have reviewed the information and read all the disclaimers, click the “Search the Database” link to proceed. You can choose to search by song title, performer, writer or publisher. What makes the ASCAP database so useful is that regardless of how you begin your search, all the other information is cross-referenced and displayed in multiple columns. So if you searched by song title, you can quickly view who has recorded the song and who holds the publishing copyright.
Try the Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) search tools (also under Resources). If you did not get a match using the ASCAP database, the copyright information you are looking for may be listed with BMI. The BMI search page is similar to ASCAP’s, with both search and display options based on song title, recording artist or publisher.