This site is completely legal! The editions of music presented on this site were published over 75 years ago, so their copyright has passed and they are in public domain. We can therefore copy them and distribute them freely. So, both the music and the original editions of the music presented here are in the public domain; however, please be aware that the computer file reproductions embodied in the Sheet Music Archive are copyright 2000. Copies of them may be printed out for personal and performance use, but they may not be used for commercial purposes without permission from the SMA, nor may they be distributed without permission from the SMA. And, naturally, we would not be able to include the music of more recent composers, such as John Adams or John Cage, whose music is still in copyright, as are the various editions of their music.
The majority of scores featured in this archive are from pre-1923 music editions such as C.F. Peters, Brietkopf and Hartel, Bach-Gesselschaft, various American editions, and some pre-1973 Russian music editions. These are all old enough to be out of copyright in essentially all countries. We can therefore distribute them on-line without royalty, and users can legally download them.
The sheet music files are in Adobe .pdf document format. To view them, download the latest version of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader from http://www.adobe.com. This music is in the public domain, so you may print out as many as you need for personal use. Please notice, however, that these files are copyrighted, all rights are reserved on them, and unauthorized distribution or sale of these files is prohibited. Enjoy!
Feel free to send us an e-mail. We read and consider all of them, although due to time constraints we may not respond. All suggestions are welcome, including notices about mistakes in the Archive and suggestions of new pieces to include. Please, only suggest classical music pieces (or pieces that might look good in the "traditional" section). We don't know much about pop music!
Note on file sizes: Adobe .pdf files can be quite large. The sheet music available here sizes at roughly 75k per page, give or take some. Most files here are less than 1.2 megabytes, but for larger files, it may help to obtain a program for resuming interrupted downloads, such as GetRight, at http://www.getright.com.
Also, please note that while the vast majority of files in
the archive were prepared in-house, and therefore subject to SMA's copyright
restrictions, a few files, where indicated, were prepared by people not
affiliated with SMA. These "3rd party" files are subject to the
copyright restriction of their respective creators; we do not control them in
this sense.
The Sheet Music Archive collects revenue through banner ads.
However, this advertising revenue only covers about 1/4 of the regular monthly
rate for hosting a site such as this (which features potentially high bandwidth
and requires space to hold several hundred megabytes of .pdf files). The rest
of the cost is made up by "generosity" (i.e. the SMA is a division of
Natex Communications, Inc., which owns the server space and hosts the site, and
permits the site to exist as a public service, even though it brings in
below-average revenue).
This is to imply, apart from the fact that a free classical sheet music site
such as this makes little business sense from an expected-returns point of
view, that the SMA does not get rich from the labor of 3rd parties who upload
or otherwise contribute files to it. Also note that the site would be less
likely to exist and be of public benefit if it could not receive advertising
revenue, however paltry and inconsistent it may be (inconsistent because many
internet banner ad brokers are going out of business, and cash flow from banner
ad revenues are often unpredictable and subject to fluctuation).
The Sheet Music Archive respects the privacy of its users and does not collect personal information about them without their knowledge and permission. The SMA is also committed towards keeping e-mail communications between itself and its users confidential. Non-specific, automated information such as cookie information may be collected in order to compile statistical data about traffic to the site. Click here to view our full privacy policy text.