Mechanical (& other) Copyright Stamps

Last Update 10 June 2016

Published in March 2007, Adam Miller's The World-wide Catalogue & Handbook of Stamps issued under Copyright Acts,
describes the background to the stamps, and catalogues in considerable detail the issues of over 220 companies and individuals from over a dozen countries.
In August 2008 it won a GOLD medal at the APS Stampshow in Hartford, CT.

Printed in an initial run of just 100 copies, this is now out of print

Click on the cover above to view some sample pages and see more information.

Fear not - the 2nd Edition is now in preparation, and I hope to have it available later in 2017. It is already 60 pages longer than the 2007 edition!

Samplers are available - Australia and Great Britain.

Newsletters!

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.