Copyright on things from the 20's and before lasts 75 years from first
registration.  This means that this year, anything from 1921 and before
is public domain.  Anything after that is subject to a mechanical
royalty.

For anything else, contact the publisher or Harry Fox Agency.  Harry Fox
will want a royalty for anything they control (currently about 6.7 cents
per song, per record), and for anything they don't control you'll have to
search for the current copyright owner.  Harry Fox will also want a
pre-payment for the first 500 units sold (about $37).

It is possible that the original copyright owner did not properly renew
the copyright under the old rules (within 26 years of original date), and
the piece has slipped into public domain.  You'll have to research that
yourself.  Unfortunately, the telnet site for on-line copyright data is
only current from 1978 onward.

I don't know anyone that really pays attention to any of this [royalty
payments] for runs of 1000 units or less -- especially if the title is
obscure, but that is an opinion.  In the era of the MegaHit,  the
lawsuit has to be for millions before it's worth anybody's time.  That's
also just an opinion, of course.

Before investing the $1800+ in a run of CD's you should consider having
limited (10-20 unit) production runs made, and have more made up as you
run out.  If the demand is high, then you can justify the cost of the
larger run.

If the sales of my music cassette is any indication, you'll sell far
less than that.

Cheers,

George Bogatko