Mechanical (& other) Copyright Stamps

Last Update 13 November 2017

Newly published in November 2017, Adam Miller's Stamps on Music -
The World-wide Catalogue & Handbook of Stamps issued under Copyright Acts, 2nd Edition,
describes the background to the stamps, and catalogues in considerable detail the issues of over 400 companies and individuals from over 15 countries.

This 2nd Edition is now available through the print-on-demand services of lulu.com, and runs to 312 pages!

Click on the cover at left to view purchasing information and some catalogue sample extracts.

Newsletters! (Following on from the 1st Edition - much of this information is now incorporated into the new 2nd Edition)

Copyright Stamps Newsletter #1 - December 2008 - new issuers uncovered since the book was published (PDF, 2.8MB, print-ready)

Copyright Stamps Newsletter #2 - September 2009 - new issuers, and many new types from known issuers (PDF, 2.1MB, print-ready)

Copyright Stamps Newsletter #3 - July 2011 - almost all new issuers, plus book review of a new work on copyright stamps in Germany (PDF, 4MB, print-ready)

Copyright Stamps Newsletter #4 - May 2013 - Many new issuers and issues, especially from Italy (PDF, 3.3MB, print-ready)

What they are.

These stamps were issued to show the pre-payment of mechanical copyright royalties due under various Copyright Acts and General Regulations. They were first introduced in the UK in July 1912, and had largely faded by the Second World War, although in Australia the continued well into the 1950s. They were intended to be affixed to the record, pianola roll or cylinder box to show the royalty had been paid.
A longer article is here.

Issuers by Category

Each category has a list of the relevant issues, by country. A few issuers have a linked page which shows the basic stamp types issued, and some detail of these, per the "Stamps on Music" catalogue.
The terms used are defined here.

Unless otherwise shown, all images on the subsequent pages are scanned at 200% for an 800x600 256 colour display (75dpi). Record labels are generally scanned actual size. The stamps below are actual size at 100dpi.