12 Reusing Printed Music

Many students will include musical examples in their thesis to illustrate a point. Even short musical examples must be licensed for use. Use the publication information on the score to determine the identity of the rights holder. This can be an individual (e.g., the composer) or an organization (e.g., a publisher, trust, or estate). When you submit a permissions request, include the following information:

• The exact portion of music you wish to use, including scoring and measure numbers. You will not be licensing “the work” but instead the exact portions you intend to use in your document.
• The title of your document (can be a working title)
• That your document is a dissertation
• That your dissertation will be available open access via Iowa Research Online.

Some rights holders will charge a fee, some will provide a license to use for free. There is no industry standard for what fees may be charged.

For links to several of the large music publishers and distributors licensing webpages, visit the Music and Copyright Guide.