Guides: Music Law Research Guide: Getting Started

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Introduction

This research guide provides resources relevant to legal issues commonly faced by artists and the music industry, such as copyright, licensing, and antitrust law. It includes both primary and secondary sources, but is focused on U.S. law and does not include foreign or international materials. It also includes sources which you can use to find news or background information about the music industry.

Getting Started

The following resources provide good introductions to the music industry and the legal issues it most commonly faces:

Entertainment Law in a Nutshell (5th ed.; 2021) by Sherri L. Burr
This compact reference gives a big picture overview of the intellectual property, contract, publicity, estate planning, and First Amendment issues that contribute to the field of entertainment law. Professor Burr also addresses specific legal issues that arise in the film, music, and television industries, including discussion of the rise of "reality" television.
Historical Dictionary of the American Music Industry (2018)
Call Number: Available online
This book traces the history of the music industry from the Colonial era to the present day, identifying trends and the innovative leaders who have shaped its course.
Music Business: Infrastructure, Practice and Law (2004) by Nigel Parker
Billed as an in "insider's guide" to the infrastructure practice and law of the music business. Includes analysis of the organisation and evolution of the music business as well as the copyright and contract rules which underlie it. Frequently takes a comparative approach, with particular emphasis on the UK, USA and EU.
Music Law for the General Practitioner (2013) by Thomas R. Leavens (currently missing, will have to borrow via ILL)
Music law involves several key substantive areas of law: copyrights, trademarks, and identity rights, to name a few, but technological advances in digital distribution have brought important new players into the mix. This book aims to provide lawyers with comprehensive information on the business and legal topics that are likely to be encountered when representing a musical talent, producer, or consumer.

Further Research Guidance

The Georgetown Law Library has a number of other research guides that may be relevant to music law research, such as:

We also have a number of guides to treatises and study aids, called Treatise Finders, based on legal subject area:

Primer on Music Law

A Music Law and Business Primer for Trademark Lawyers
5 Intell. Prop. L. Bull. 10

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Update History

Updated 03/24 (MK)

Music Law Research Guide

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