or the Internet. In the U.S. Even though the first US copyright laws did not include musical compositions, they were added as part of the Copyright Act of 1831. According to a circular issued by the United States Copyright Office on Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings, a musical composition is defined as "A musical composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of the performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer, and the lyricists if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example cassette tape, LP, or CD). Sending a musical composition in the form of a phonorecord does not necessarily mean that there is a claim to copyright in the sound recording." In the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines a musical work to mean "a work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music." In India In India The Copy Right Act, 1957 prevailed for original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work until the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 was introduced. Under the amended act, a new definition has been provided for musical work which states "musical works means a work consisting of music and included any graphical notation of such work but does not included any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music." See also BCM Classification Developing variation Dickinson classification MIDI composition Music manuscript Music publisher (popular music) Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) References Sources Further reading . 1998. "Siamo tutti compositori. Alcune riflessioni sulla distribuzione sociale del processo compositivo". Schweizer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft, Neue Folge 18:259–330. Sorce Keller, Marcello. 2019 “Composition”, Janet Sturman (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, 2019, Vol. II, 618–623. External links How to Compose Music – artofcomposing.com Composition Today – news, competitions, interviews and other resources for composers. Internet Concert Project: Album for the Young Student New Music – an online performance and documentary feature from Bloomingdale School of Music (January 2010) A Beginner's Guide to Composing – an online feature from Bloomingdale School of Music (February 2008) A Practical Guide to Musical Composition ComposersNewPencil – Information, articles and music composition resources.