Mechanical licenses are required under U.S. Copyright Law if you want to record or distribute a song that you do not own. By properly licensing your recordings, you ensure that the publisher that represents the songwriter who wrote the composition gets paid. Reputable replicators and online music sites will require you to have these licenses before they duplicate your recording or offer it online.

HFA's Songfile makes this easy. Songfile licensing is a tool to obtain mechanical licenses in a quantity of 25 to 2500 units for physical recordings (CDs, cassettes, vinyl) made and distributed in the U.S., or to create and distribute full permanent downloads of a song from a server located within the U.S., at the current statutory mechanical rate . In addition to royalty fees, there is a modest per-song processing fee of $13 to $15 charged by HFA, depending upon how many songs are licensed at once. All processing is done online, and in most cases, you will have your license within 24 hours. Once processed, licenses are made available to you electronically for viewing and printing through your Songfile account. Please note that all songfile license fees are non-refundable.

To use Songfile you must be conducting business in the U.S., and have either a valid credit card or a checking account with a U.S. address. You will be asked to register for Songfile use by agreeing to HFA's Terms of Use and creating a user name and password. Licenses for songs on physical products and for DPDs must be obtained in separate transactions. For physical products, you will be able to license multiple songs for one physical album at a time; you will need to complete a separate transaction for each album. You can obtain up to 50 separate DPD licenses in one transaction. Unlike physical licenses, DPD licenses expire in one year.

For information on licensing quantities of more than 2,500, imports, or other digital or physical formats, please refer to the Licensee Services area on the main HFA website. For more information on what can be licensed through Songfile, click here.

If you have already registered for the new Songfile licensing tool, please click on the 'Songfile Login' button. If you have not yet registered, click on the 'Register Now' button to create your account.