Verifying A Song Title

Online Verification Tools

Search engines like Google can verify song titles. You can type the song title in quotation marks to find an exact title match. However, it is often helpful to remove the quotation marks in case your title consists of fewer or more words, or in case some part of the title might be spelled differently. It is also often possible to search for webpages that have the lyrics to the song you that you seek. By entering lyrics that you know, within quotation marks if you remember them exactly, you can often find the title of your song.

You can also verify the song titles, songwriters, and performers of songs by searching the websites of the major performing rights organizations (ASCAP and BMI). They each maintain databases of songs by all the composers and lyricists they represent.

The United States Copyright Office also maintains information about songs and composers. Instructions for using this complex database are at Search Copyright Records.

Print Verification Tools

The following are print sources that can be used to verify song titles and information. All are located at the Art, Music and Recreation Center reference desk unless otherwise noted: