Guides

Music publishing, country by country

Copyright may be automatic under Berne, but collecting is not: every territory has its own answer to who claims which rights, whether a registry matters, and what a publisher must set up before " royalties flow. Three patterns repeat worldwide:

• Open direct membership — the US PROs, PRS, GEMA, SACEM, SAMRO and most of Europe admit foreign publishers for modest fees;
• Local presence required — Japan's JASRAC expects a Japanese entity, bank account and language capability; APRA wants a bona fide Australasian business; Brazil's associations expect Brazilian administration;
• No direct path at all — KOMCA, MCSC and others take foreign repertoire only via reciprocal agreements or a local sub-publisher.

Each country page covers the rights map, the national registration system, and the realistic setup routes.

North America

• United States
• Canada

Latin America

• Mexico
• Brazil
• Argentina

Europe

• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• France
• Germany
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Spain
• Italy
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Norway
• Finland

Africa & Middle East

• Israel
• South Africa

Asia

• Japan
• South Korea
• China
• Hong Kong
• India

Oceania

• Australia and New Zealand

Rules, fees, and society requirements change, and none of this is legal advice — confirm current requirements with the society or local counsel before committing. See also which societies accept CWR.

Two free checks for your CWR file. Is the file correct? Every record, share and control total against the spec, each problem on its exact line. Do its writers match their registrations? Every writer cross-checked against public registration data, including works registered under another spelling or IPI. Nothing stored: check a file at cwrcheck.com.