Compulsory license

A compulsory license is an authorization by a government for third parties (such as a company or the government itself) for the manufacture or use of a product without the permission of the rightsholder.

U.S. Copyright Law
Section 115 of the 1976 Copyright Act, as amended, is the current authority for a compulsory license (or a statutory mechanical license) for reproduction and distribution of musical works. The license protects the musical work copyright holder’s right to control certain reproductions of the work (e.g., copying the sheet music) but permits the recording of a song by a third party on “mechanical” media such as a CD. In its present form, it essentially allows reproduction of musical compositions that may be heard with the aid of a mechanical device.

The mechanical license is validly obtained only after a musical work has been initially distributed publicly under the authority of the copyright holder. The license is authorized when the licensee’s (recipient or user) primary purpose is to distribute the work publicly for private use. Currently, the mechanical license rate is 9.1 cents for songs 5 minutes or less, or 1.75 cents per minute or fraction thereof for songs over 5 minutes.

Although the §115 mechanical license compensates the musical work copyright holder for reproduction and distribution rights, it does not authorize the duplication of a sound recording. Permission to duplicate a sound recording must be obtained from whoever owns the sound recording copyright &mdash; likely either the recording artist or record company.