I'm from India and have been singing Western (UK and Ireland mainly, but also some American) folk music with other musicians only privately until now. If we were to put up a Myspace page or record a small-time CD, how does this copyright thing work? How does one find out who holds the copyright to a song or tune?

Do I have to find out about Indian copyright laws because I'm in India, or the laws of the country which holds the copyright? About how much would one have to pay?-is it per unit sold/produced or is there some fixed amount payable? Do I just go directly to the artist or to some organisation?

If we DO record, we'd like as far as possible to play stuff in the public domain - we really can't afford to spend money on making music right now. Is there some way I can find a list of songs in the PD?

Thank you,
Shalini