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Overview[]

In 1927, the National Music Publishers Company (NMPC)[1] created the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA) to issue and administer mechanical licenses. Today, the HFA represents over 20,000 music publishers (60% of all music publishers in the United States). It licenses, collects and distributes royalties for the mechanical rights (mechanical reproduction) of copyrights owned by represented publishers.

The HFA will typically require payment of the statutory royalty rate from licensees unless the publisher has authorizes a reduced royalty rate. The HFA licenses the mechanical rights to copyrighted music for use on records, tapes and CDs, in audiovisual works (motion pictures and TV programs), MIDI, karaoke and multimedia programs.

Currently, most mechanical licenses are obtained through HFA because there is a reduction in the transaction costs offered by HFA over the statutory compulsory license rights under 17 U.S.C. §115.

References[]

  1. The NMPC is now known as the NMPA, or National Music Publishers’ Association.
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