creativecommons.org — Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.   They provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.   *  SwapBeats has teamed up with Creative Commons to allow members to assign (and display) their copyright license for each virtual Session track they upload.

sesac.com — SESAC, Inc. is a performing rights organization with headquarters in Nashville and offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and London. SESAC Icons and Legends Performing rights organizations (there are three of us in the U.S.) are businesses designed to represent songwriters and publishers and their right to be compensated for having their music performed in public. Okay, now let’s get to the most frequently asked questions... For history’s sake, we can tell you the name originally stood for Society of European Stage Authors & Composers, a fitting moniker back in 1930 when the company was founded to serve European composers not adequately represented in the United States. Today, however, the company is known simply as SESAC. With an international reach and a vast repertory that spans virtually every genre of music, SESAC is the fastest growing and most technologically adept of the nation’s performing rights companies. SESAC will represent the right for your music to be played in public. Songwriters and publishers are paid royalties based upon how much their songs are played. The system required to compute compensation is based on many factors, including state-of-the-art monitoring, computer database information and broadcast logs. Unlike ASCAP and BMI, SESAC utilizes a selective process when affiliating songwriters and publishers, resulting in a roster of affiliates who have personal relationships with the SESAC staff. In short, SESAC’s creative staff provides affiliated songwriters and publishers with a level of service and attention unparalleled in the industry. SESAC’s corporate headquarters in the heart of Nashville’s Music Row houses all of the company’s divisions, from creative to licensing to administration. The company also has offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.

bmi.com — Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed. As a performing right organization, BMI issues licenses to various users of music, including television and radio stations and networks; new media, including the Internet and mobile technologies such as ringtones and ringbacks; satellite audio services like XM and Sirius; nightclubs, discos, hotels, bars, restaurants and other venues; digital jukeboxes; and live concerts. It then tracks public performances of its members’ music, and collects and distributes licensing revenues for those performances as royalties to the more than 400,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers it represents, as well as the thousands of creators from around the world who have chosen BMI for representation in the U.S. BMI currently represents some more than 6.5 million compositions — a number that is constantly growing. As a result, BMI has, over the years, sought out and implemented a number of technological innovations in its continuing effort to gather the most accurate information available about where, when and how its members’ compositions are used as well as ensuring that payment to those whose works have been performed is made in as precise and timely a manner as possible.