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Information from Music Publishers Association
www.mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/faq

Do I need permission to make an arrangement or transcription?
The first thing to do when you want to make an arrangement is check if the work is in the public domain or if it is protected by copyright. If the work is protected by copyright, you cannot make an arrangement without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
[the copyright owner of a piece of music is also referred to as the ‘publisher’, whether or not printed sheet music is available. S. B]


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Hal Leonard is the world’s largest publisher of printed sheet music, and also the largest ‘print representative’ for other publishers (song copyright owners). For the many publishers it represents, Hal Leonard is responsible for authorizing print related usages such as photocopying, arranging or adapting, and reprinting lyrics and/or music. I have found it the most efficient contact for getting permission to publish arrangements. Re non‐U.S. arrangers, they informed me that they “do handle print rights to various catalogs in territories outside of the United States. As with any licensing request, foreign arrangement requests are considered on a caseby‐ case basis.”
www.halleonard.com/permissions
www.halleonard.com/permissions/faq.jsp

From the Hal Leonard FAQ page:
How do I get permission to publish and sell music which Hal Leonard Corporation controls in print?
You will need to submit your request in writing by mail or fax on your company
or organization's letterhead or electronically [i.e. email] to the following address:

• Your complete name, address and either a telephone number, fax number or e-mail address;
• The title of the composition(s) you wish to publish, including the writer
and/or arranger along with the complete copyright information.
• The type of arrangement you wish to publish (i.e. Guitar, SATB Choral, etc., etc.)
• The suggested retail selling price
• The estimated print run [how many you plan to print]
• The territory of distribution for each published arrangement [which countries’ residents you plan to sell it to]
• Total number of copyrighted songs contained in publication (if you are
requesting permission to publish a collection of compositions)

Please note: permission to print sheet music is NOT compulsory (i.e., they can refuse permission). They can negotiate whatever royalty rate they see fit (the royalty rate is not set by law). And they can place whatever restrictions they want to on permission (e.g. they can forbid you to distribute PDFs, as that’s too easy for the recipient to misuse; they can require that your arrangement carry THEIR copyright, in fact considering your arrangement a ‘work for hire’ that they control - even if YOU paid THEM.)

How do I find out the copyright owner [aka the publisher] of a work?

The publisher may be the composer, or may be a company that has bought the copyright from the composer, or may be a company that has employed the composer to create the work. (For example, film score music is usually owned by the film company, not the composer.) The publisher may be represented by another company such as Hal Leonard for print licenses (sheet music) or Harry Fox for mechanical licenses (recordings).

If you own a legal CD or LP, or a legal copy of the sheet music, the publishers will usually be listed there. If you don’t have those, you may have to poke around a little.
You can search at:
http://www.harryfox.com/public/songfile.jsp
the Harry Fox site is mainly for mechanical licensing (getting permission to record your version of a song), but you can use the song search feature to find the publishers that you need to contact for arranging permissions, too.
You can also find publisher info at the Performing Rights Organizations. The U.S. ones are:
www.ASCAP.com, www.BMI.com, www.SESAC.com
(there are other PRO’s in other countries.)
Music Publishers Association’s Copyright Search page
www.mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/copyright_search
The contact information for many publishers can be found at:
www.mpa.org/directories/music_publishers/
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How can I find out whether a song is public domain?
There is no one definitive list. There are some songs for which the music is public domain while the words are copyrighted, and vice versa. Don’t accept rumor in determining that a song is public domain, but rather research it in several sources.