Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Music Law Research Guide

This guide provides resources relevant to legal issues commonly faced by artists and the music industry, such as copyright, licensing, and antitrust law.

Contents

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:

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General Treatises on Major Music Law Topics

These titles deal broadly with copyright, licensing agreements, and other areas of law which affect the entertainment industry generallyAll are available electronically for members of the Georgetown Law Center community.

Music Law Books & Treatises

The following titles deal specifically with the music industry and/or its legal issues, but may not be as thorough, in-depth, or up-to-date on developments in specific areas of law as the "General Treatises..." listed on the right.  Also see the "Getting Started" area of this guide for more works specifically on music law and the music industry.

To find more books on music law, search our catalog.

News & Current Awareness

These current awareness publications are heavily used by attorneys to keep up with recent cases, proposed legislation, and developments within their practice areas.  Many include expert news & commentary and useful legal analysis, often in addition to treatises and other tools.  

Academic Journals

Lexis and Westlaw's law journal databases are popular places to search for relevant law journal articles; however, this is not necessarily the most efficient way of finding relevant journal articles, nor is it comprehensive. The Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research research guide explains the differences between searching journal indexes and searching full-text databases. It also links to specific legal and non-legal indexes and full-text databases.

There are several law reviews and journals dedicated to entertainment law issues; however, note that scholarly articles on music and entertainment law may also appear in journals that are general in nature, so you should not limit your research only to entertainment- or music law-specific journals.

Study Aids

The following sources are designed to assist students taking substantive law classes in areas relevant to the music industry: