Are you wondering when your favorite song was written?

Or maybe have you heard a song recently that sounds like a direct ripoff of another song?

There is only one way to know for sure.

You need to check out what year the song was written.

Finding out the year a song was written is actually pretty easy.

If you have the CD, just looking in the liner notes on the CD booklet. If there are lyrics, it will have a copyright date listed.

The copyright date is the year that the song was written. The liner notes also list the songwriters.

But not all CD booklets have the lyrics with a copyright date. So, what do you do then?

Easy. You go right to the source.

There are three companies that pay songwriters royalties. As a result, all songwriters are affiliated with at least one of the three. And every song they write is listed with said company.

The companies are BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. And all of them have websites where you can look up song details.

• BMI Repertoire Search
• ASCAP ACE Title Search
• SESAC Repertory Search

You can search by song title, songwriter or performing artist. The results you get will not give the year written though. You must click on the name of the publishing company. When you do, you get contact details. Just contact the publishing company to get the year.