I should have qualified that I was referring to works that are out of copyright or you have the authorisation of the copyright holders or their publishers to reproduce their works in a compiled edition.

So, I was getting at that: a separate copyright is supposed to exist in UK law for a collection and database. If you reproduce the collection of a previously published edition - even if you change the format style of print, then you might still be breaching copyright by creating an OVERALL copycat!   Does that make any sense?

Another nightmare is that original printed publishers may be out of business - but their songs have been sold on many times... some of my late father's works have been transferred at least 6 times through take-overs. So, it really has to be really, really old songbooks to be on safer territory or if you have every single party and their heirs/representatives then that's OK.