Template:MsgComposerUser

Dear Composer or Copyright Owner,

s a composer or other copyright holder, please take time to carefully review the Creative Commons and licensing policies and guidelines.

For those uploading the first time, please remember choose the menu option "New Composition" when uploading your original works (even if they are scans of manuscripts or printouts), "New Arrangement" when uploading new arrangements, and "New Edition" when uploading new editions of public domain works. As it is normally assumed that composers and arrangers have edited their own work, please leave the "Editor" field empty unless another person has actually edited your work (in which case their name should be inserted). Note also that the English term "Editor" is not the equivalent of the French editeur or Italian editore. "Editor" refers to the person who reviewed and corrected the piece, while the French and Italian words are closer to the English word "publisher". In the "Publisher" field, please use your own full legal name, as making your scores and sound files available for free download on this site constitutes "publication" under the laws of most countries in the world. (Note that this is done automatically when using the standard upload tools).

You should be aware that Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 allows for the unrestricted copying, performance (live and broadcast) and recording of the work (including explicitly commercial use) at no charge, with no compensation or royalties payable to the composer or copyright owner for such commercial exploitation. Note also that the all of the acceptable licenses are considered to be IRREVOCABLE once a file has been uploaded with the lawful copyright owner's authorization.

You are free to change the license after upload to something more suitable. IMSLP as a matter of policy will list files under the most permissive licensing terms. Since licenses and public domain dedications are irrevocable, restrictions cannot be added later, but a more liberal license can be selected. Composers are also encouraged to make use of our new template {{NoPerf}}, which automatically places works into a new category - Unperformed Works. To add this template to your pages, simply copy and paste the little template above (curly brackets and all) into the "First Performance" field of the "General Information" section on all work pages.

Before you upload, remember these key points...

• All licenses on IMSLP are IRREVOCABLE. Once a file is made available here, it stays here and will not be removed as a matter of policy.
• The Creative Commons licenses terminate automatically upon violation by end-users. In other words, if the user fails to respect the terms of the license, then their use may constitute infringement.
• Your work is legally published (in most locales) the first time a file is offered for download by someone other than yourself. You are considered the publisher of your own work when you post it on IMSLP.

Using the simple "Creative Commons Attribution" (CC BY) does not limit the use of your work for commercial use by end users, who can do so without paying you any compensation whatsoever as long as they observe the requirement that your work is attributed to you, and the license is noted. Use of "Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike" (CC BY-SA), conversely, requires that any user make their derivative work (that is, anything that incorporates your work) freely shareable according to the CC BY-SA license terms as well.

PS: For additional and more detailed explanation, please visit our Composer Portal page.