Welcome to Kohn On Music Licensing, a free resource for anyone who has questions about Copyright Law and Licensing Music for use and distribution over the World Wide Web.
Hosted by Bob Kohn and Al Kohn, who invite you to visit their personal home pages.
"Kohn On Music Licensing is the bible of the music publishing industry."
-- Entertainment Law Reporter (April, 2002)
Co-author Al Kohn, a 50-year veteran of the music industry, was Vice President of Licensing for Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., the world's largest music publishing company. His son, co-author, Bob Kohn was founder and Chairman of the Board of EMusic.com, the pioneering MP3 music subscription service, recently acquired by Vivendi/Universal.
This new Third Edition to the critically acclaimed best-seller is a "must-have" for all music copyright owners, music publishers, songwriters, entertainment attorneys, and producers seeking to clear music rights for products and performances. The authors, who have over 50-plus years of hands-on experience, take you step-by-step through the entire licensing process. In clear, understandable language, they provide detailed explanations of the many kinds of music licenses, identify the critical issues addressed in each, and offer valuable strategy and advice to both rights owners and prospective licensees.
The Third Edition includes: a fully updated chapter on licensing music on the Internet, including the implications of file sharing programs like Napster; licensing for computer software and in multimedia and new media products; music publishing; international subpublishing; co-publishing and administrative agreements; and songwriter agreements. Proven tips and suggestions, along with the most up-to-date analysis, are given for virtually all the areas of music licensing including: How to "clear" a license; copyright renewal; videogram licensing; negotiating fees; the digital sampling controversy; radio, television, and print advertising; and new uses for old licenses are just some of the topics expertly covered.
The book includes the names and addresses of the major music rights and clearing agencies, major performance rights societies, and a lengthy list of songs currently in the public domain. Plus, more than 70 forms and license agreements, including many new ones, are included on a companion CD-ROM that is searchable by caption, topic, or keyword. Foreward by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. For more information on the book's contents, please refer to the detailed table of contents. Not available in bookstores. Please place your order by one of the following means:
Order Now Directly From the Publisher . . .
Hardcover $165 ISBN: 156706289X
1 volume with forms on CD-ROM.
1,626 pages Copyright © 1992-2002
Published by Aspen Law & Business
Third Edition
Updated by supplement annually
We have received many questions about the legal aspects of the webcasting of sound recordings and the delivery of music files, such as MP3 files, over the Internet. Partially as a result of the complexity of the law, and partially as a result of some misinformation on the subject being published by certain lobbying organizations, we thought it would be helpful to post the following primer on the subject, and we welcome your comments in our conference area. The following article is an updated version of the article which first appeared here in July, 1998. This version was published in the September, 1998 issue of the Entertainment Law Reporter (Volume 20, Number 4, Page 4).
Background
The RIAA has sued Diamond Multimedia, seeking a permanent injunction against the shipment in the United States of a revolutionary new device to which music fans can transfer music they download off of the Internet. The RIAA is taking the position that the device must comply with the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. Not so, says, Bob Kohn.
