that the children's song "Happy Birthday to You" was in the public domain and Warner/Chappell Music was required to pay $14 million to the song's licensees. In November 2022, American humorist Tom Lehrer released his entire catalogue, dating back to the into the 1950's, into the public domain. Copyright For music, the involved rights are: Authors (composers, lyricists) — e.g. CISAC members, AR: SADAIC, DE: GEMA, GB: PRS, US: SESAC, BMI, ASCAP Performer Mechanical rights — e.g. BIEM members (mechanical rights collecting societies), AR: SADAIC, DE: GEMA, GB: MCPS, US: HFA BIEM is the international organisation representing mechanical rights societies. Mechanical rights societies exist in most countries. They license the reproduction of songs (including musical, literary and dramatic works). Their members are composers, authors and publishers and their clients are record companies and other users of recorded music. They also license mechanical aspects of the downloading of music via the Internet. Live performance — DE: Publisher — e.g. IFPI members, AR: CAPIF, GB: BPI, US: RIAA Process There are several ways that a piece of music can be in the public domain: If all rights in it have failed, as is the case for old pieces of music such as George Gershwin's 1924 composition Rhapsody in Blue. If the rights-holders have placed it into the public domain, for example through copyright abandonment or the Creative Commons Zero dedication. If no rights ever applied to the music, possibly because the music predates the existence of intellectual property, as is the case for most folk music, or because it is otherwise ineligible for protection, as is the case for music performed by the various ensembles of the US military. If a piece of music does not fall within the public domain and is instead under copyright protection, most countries' laws forbid the reproduction, public performance, distribution, and creation of derivative works without the permission of the copyright holder. Under compulsory licensing laws, some of these actions may in fact be lawful, but the infringing party would then be liable to pay royalties to the copyright holder for the use of their work. Sources Inherently, all historical musical works (pre-1925) are public domain. Classical sheet music, for example, is widely available for free use and reproduction. Some more current works are also available for free use through public works projects such as Internet Archive. This and similar projects aim to preserve and make