How to register your copyright

Its easy to register your copyright(s) in your music!

You can even register copyrights in more than one work together on one form, for one fee (fees are charged per registration, rather than per work).  And you can register both types of copyright (musical composition copyright and sound recording copyright) for the same work on the same form.  But first, you need to figure out if the music you want to register is “published” or “unpublished.”

1.    Decide if your music is “published.”

This is the tricky part.  “Published” has special meanings in copyright law.  It doesn’t mean having a traditional publisher publish your sheet music.  Rather, it means making copies of your music available to the public.  The “copies” can be in any form, for example, sheet music you print yourself, sound recordings, or videotapes of a performance of your music.  Making the copies available to the public can mean sales or distribution through any venue, including retail stores or online.  It can also mean sending sheet music or recordings to several agents or potential publishers or record companies.

On the other hand, sending your music to only one or two agents won’t mean publication.  Merely passing out your sheet music to fellow students is not a publication.  Playing your music in a live performance also does not count as publication.

Posting your music online (in any form – sheet music or sound/video recordings) is a gray area.  The Copyright Office has decided not to decide whether online posting is a publication, and so far the courts have not decided either.  So if you don’t state on your posting that you are giving your viewers permission to copy or download the music, you can decide that you have not “published” your work.

The advantage of having “published” works is that you get the three-month retroactive grace period with your registration.  For example, suppose you posted your composition, My Song, online on January 1, but you didn’t file your copyright registration until February 15.  In the meantime, on February 1, someone has already copied My Song and is using it on their own website.  If you registered My Song as a published work, you will get the bargaining power of having the full benefits of early registration (statutory damages and attorneys’ fees) retroactively against the February 1 infringement.  If you registered it as an unpublished work, you don’t get those extra remedies, because the date of your registration is after the date of the infringement.

The disadvantage of having published works is that you cannot register them together unless they were “published” on the same day.  So if you have several compositions that have been posted on different days, you can’t register them together if you call them published works.  You would have to register each one separately for a separate fee.  Instead, you may want to register them together as one collection of unpublished works, for one fee.

IMPORTANT: if you have a collection of both published and unpublished works, you cannot register them together on the same form.  Separate the unpublished works and fill out one form for them.  For your published works, each one has to be registered on a separate form, unless a group of them were published together as a unit (e.g., on one recording).  In that case, you can register them as a published collection on one form for one fee.

2.    Fill out the form.

Go to www.copyright.gov, click on “Forms” and find the links for Form CO and Form CO Instructions.  (Note: the Copyright Office has also just launched a fully online registration system.  However, as of this writing that process is still pretty glitchy.  So this article will walk you through the alternate procedure for the form that you fill-out online, but then print and send by mail to the Copyright Office.)  You should follow the instructions, but some of them are not very clear.  Here’s some additional tips:

NOTE: these instructions are for individuals who have created their compositions or sound recordings on their own.  (There are different rules if you created works as an employee or with other people, and those are not covered here.  See the Form CO Instructions for guidance for those situations.)

1 Work Being Registered

1a: Check Performing arts work (“performing arts” includes the concept of a musical composition) even if you are registering both your musical composition and a sound recording.

1b: Enter one title.  If you are registering one piece, enter its title.  Don’t use quotation marks.  For example, put My Song, not “My Song.”

If you are registering a collection of compositions, put the collection title.  (If you don’t have a collection title, decide on one now.  It can be something simple like 2008 Sonatas).  To add the individual titles of each piece in the collection, click the “additional title” button (you can do this up to 50 titles).

1c. Skip.

1d. Skip, unless your work is also known by another title.

1e. Put the year that you finished the piece, or for a collection, the year that you finished the last piece in the collection.  If you are registering both a composition and a sound recording of that composition, put the year the sound recording was completed.

1f. If your work (or collection) has been “published” under the special definitions discussed above, then put the month, date and year that the first copy was distributed.  If you expect to distribute copies, but have not yet done so, leave this blank.  You can’t declare a future publication date.  Also make sure the publication date is the same or later than the date you put in 1e (by definition, you can’t publish a work before you created it, but you’d be surprised how many people make this mistake).

1g. Skip.

1h. For unpublished works, Skip.  For published works, check United States, unless copies of your work were first distributed in another country (then check Other).

1i. This is relevant if your work was included in a published compilation with works by other people - for example, if your composition was in a book of sheet music, or your sound recording was on a CD with songs by other composers.  In that case, put the name of the publication or CD.

1j. If you filled out 1i, put the publication volume, number and issue, if applicable (leave blank if no volume, number or issue exists).

1k. Skip.

2 Author Information (the term “author” includes composer and musician)

2a. Put your name.  This can be your real name, or a pseudonym that you use for your music.  Or you can put Anonymous in the First Name field.  However, that will make it harder for people to find you as the copyright owner.

2b. Skip.

2c. If you have a dba (“doing business as”) name, put that here.  A dba is a business name you’ve adopted for yourself, but that hasn’t’ been formailized into a legal business entity.  For example, if you have a website called “Mike’s Music,” that would be a dba.

2d. OPTIONAL.  You can put your birthdate, but you don’t have to.  The Copyright Office explains that this information helps people distinguish between different people with the same name.  But information on these forms becomes public record.  You may not want to reveal that you are a minor.

2e. Skip (obviously, you’re not dead).

2f. Check the appropriate box after Citizenship OR Domicile (not both).

2g. Check Pseudonymous if you put a pseudonym for your name in 2a.  Check Anonymous if you put that in 2a.  Don’t check Made for hire.

2h. For musical compositions, check Music and Lyrics, if appropriate.  If you are also registering a sound recording of your composition(s), check Sound recording/performance.

3 Copyright Claimant Information

3a. Put your name, the same way as in 2a.

3b. Skip.

3c. If you filled out 2c, put the same dba here.

3d. Fill in your postal address.  This will be part of the public record.  If you prefer, you can use a P.O. Box.  You can choose whether or not to fill in your phone number and email.  these will not be public, they are in case the Copyright Office needs to get in touch with you.

3e. Skip.

4 Limitation of Copyright Claim

This section is relevant only if you’ve used an earlier work in the music you are registering now.  The earlier work can be by someone else, in which case you should identify it (also make sure you have permission to use it, unless it is an old work no longer protected by copyright.  Generally, anything created before 1923 is safe).

If your work is based on your own earlier music, you don’t need to fill out Section 4 unless you already “published” or registered that earlier work.  This is important, because if you identify an earlier work in this section, that earlier work is excluded from the copyright protection given by this registration.  So you need to make sure that you have a separate registration for any of your own works that you put in this section.

4a. Check Music or Sound recording/performance, whichever is correct for the earlier work.

4b. If the earlier work has a copyright registration, put that information here.

4c. This section is asking what NEW material you’ve created, rather than what already existed in the earlier work.  For musical compositions, check Music and/or Lyrics, depending upon what you added to the earlier work.  If you are also registering a sound recording of your composition(s), check Sound recording/performance.

5 Rights and Permissions Contact

This section is for people seeking permission to use your music.  If you want them to contact you, check the first box.  If they should contact someone else (like your agent, lawyer, or parent), fill in the requested information for that person.

6 Correspondence Contact

This section is for the Copyright Office, in case they have a question or problem with your application.  If you want the office to contact you, check the first box.  If the Office should contact the same person you put in Section 5, check the second box.  If you want the office to contact someone else, fill in the requested information for that person.

7 Mail Certificate To:

This section determines where your registration certificate will be sent.  Usually, you will want it sent to you, so you can check the first box.  Or if you want it sent to the same person as you listed in Sections 5 or 6, you can check those boxes.  Or fill out a different address.

8 Cerification

8a Sign on the line.

8b. Print your name.

8c. Choose Today’s Date or fill in the date by hand.  Remember, this date cannot be earlier than the date you’ve put in Section 1f for the date of first publication, because that would mean that you are trying to register a published work that hasn’t yet been published.  When this happens, the Copyright Office rejects the application.  If you know your music will be published soon, wait for that to happen and then sign and date the form after that date.

8d. Skip.

8e. This is a place where you can put your own code for keeping track of this application.  For example, you can assign it CO1 and put the same code CO1 on your FedEx form.

3.    Write the check.

Write a check (or get a money order) for $45 made out to Register of Copyrights.

4.    Prepare your deposit specimen(s).

A “deposit specimen” is a copy of the musical work(s) that you have identified on the form.  The rules are different depending on what kind of work(s) you are registering, and whether or not they are “published” as discussed above:

For one unpublished composition: provide one copy of the lead sheet or sheet music (full score and parts, if available, or if not, the conductor’s score and parts), OR a CD or tape of a recording of the music (yes, you can submit a recording as a specimen for the composition, even if you are not registering the sound recording).  The CD or tape should have a label with the name of the composition.

For a collection of unpublished compositions, provide copies of the lead or sheet music assembled with a title page giving the same collection title that you put in Section 1b of the form, OR a CD or tape with all of the compositions, appropriately labeled.

For unpublished sound recordings, one copy of each recording.

For published sound recordings, two copies of each recording.

If you are registering compositions and sound recordings together, combine deposit specimens described above.  For example, if you are registering the musical composition and a sound recording of the same composition, a CD of the sound recording will satisfy the deposit specimen requirement for both.

5.    Make copies of everything.

Keep copies of the form, check, and deposit specimens for your files.  This is very important for two reasons: first, your application might get lost or misplaced, in which case you’ll need the back-up.  Second, the Copyright Office doesn’t always keep the deposit specimens.  So you need to keep our own duplicates in case you ever need to prove what the registration certificate covers.  (I know, it sounds crazy, but unfortunately, it’s true.)

6.    Send the package to the Copyright Office.

Send the form, check and deposit specimen(s) to

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20559-6233

Check the Copyright Office website for current information about how to prepare your package: http://www.copyright.gov/mail.html.

7.    Follow up.

If you don’t hear anything from the Copyright Office within 6 months or so, contact the Office and ask about the status of your application:  http://www.copyright.gov/help/general-form.html.

© 2008 Linda Joy Kattwinkel.  All Rights Reserved.  Disclaimer: the information in this article is provided to help you become familiar with legal issues that may affect composers.  Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and  nothing provided here should be used as a substitute for advice of legal counsel.

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