Tue, 06 Apr, 2021 13:00:00 +0000

PA or SR, Single or Collection: Which Copyright Registration Approach Should You Take?

by Mark Alan V.

Copyright registration is often one of the first foreys young musicians make into the legal side of the music business. They write that 'gonna be a hit' song, cut a demo of it and before even letting the dog hear it, it's off to the post office with an envelope containing the registration form, a check and two physical copies of the song. And then the fun part, the waiting, begins. It could be weeks, even months before that certificate of registration arrives in the mail. Then and only then does this budding songwriter feel comfortable to debut their song to all their friends and family and send off those demos to all the record labels.

While this is the most straightforward and logical approach to protecting one's creation, it's not the only way. Furthermore, it can get quite expensive and time consuming going this route. But before we get into time and money saving efforts, we need to understand a little about copyright law.

First, what is a copyright?

A copyright is just as it sounds, the exclusive rights of the creator of a work or works of art to make copies and profit from the sale of those works. Furthermore, they have the exclusive rights to grant licenses to others to make copies of the work or works. So, a copyright is just what it sounds like, a right to make copies.

The types of works eligible for copyright protection include lyrics, melodies, literature, poetry, photos, drawings, paintings and even motion pictures to name a few. If a work qualifies for copyright protection it is referred to as Intellectual Property (IP for short).

Next, the IP may already be protected.

The United States Copyright law states that a work or works is "under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that is perceptible either directly or with aid of a machine or device". In other words, the moment the lyrics are written down, the moment the song is recorded on the iPhone voice memos, it has copyright protection.

Third, something is not 'copyrighted', a copyright is registered.

When the creator or owner files the form, writes that check and mails it all off with two copies of whatever they are protecting, they are not 'copyrighting' the IP, they are actually registering an already existing copyright with the Library of Congress. As stated earlier, a work or works has copyright protection the moment it goes from the creator's brain to some medium that others can see, hear or feel.

So if it's already protected, why is it important to register it? Well, even though there is legal protection, unless it is registered, one cannot litigate. The creator can send out cease and desist letters all day long, but unless their claim to the ownership is registered with the U.S. government, they cannot sue and seek financial reward for copyright violations.

Furthermore, a recent Supreme Court ruling states that the copyright claimant cannot litigate until they have received the certificate of registration. It used to be considered 'registered' when the copyright office received the registration, but that is no longer the case.

Fourth, when it comes to music, there are two types of copyright registrations.

Lyrics, melodies, poetry, literature, and so on are considered works of art, more specifically, Performaning Art. So when registering the words and music of the song, Form PA (for Performing Art) is what the creator or owner of those would use. That protects the creation itself.

However, since good ole Thomas Edison's phonograph came along, music is also found in recorded form. Those audible tones permanently affixed to a playable medium are known as a Sound Recording. A sound recording is also considered Intellectual Property, thus qualifies for copyright protection above and beyond the songs themselves. This copyright protection protects from piracy and unlawful distribution. The owner of the sound recording, usually the financier of the recording, like a producer or record label, would file Form SR (for sound recording) to register their claim of ownership of that IP.

And finally, registering a collection of works.

At the time of this article, copyright registration fees started at $45 per work for a single author, same claimant, not for hire registration and the costs went up from there. Taking into consideration that most albums are Ten to 12 compositions, and double that with a PA registration and SR registration for each, the fees alone could break a DIYers budget. Fortunately, the copyright office allows for registering of a collection of works as single group registration.

In the case of an album, as long as a single entity owns the recordings to all the tracks and none of the have previously been registered, the entire album could fall under one Sound Recording (Form SR) registration. However, in the case of compilation albums, each of those tracks would likely have been registered by others and anything new would have to be registered individually.

Let's say a songwriter has written a couple dozen songs and wants to protect them before recording them. As long as the authors and claimants are the same on all songs, then up to 10 songs can be grouped together as a collection which can be registered under a single Performing Arts (Form PA) registration.

And the creme de la creme of copyright options is when the creator of the song, who is also the claimant, and also owns the sound recording, Form SR can be used to protect both the sound recording as well as the words and music with one registration.

Let's run through some of the scenarios. As always, carefully review the instructions first and don't hesitate to seek advice from those who specialize in copyright law. It may save you heartache in the future.

Scenario 1:

Songwriter A writes one (1) song with lyrics by themselves. They are the only claimant, not a work for hire, and they want to register it prior to recording.

Songwriter A will use Form PA and under the Nature of Authorship heading list "Words and Music".

Scenario 2:

Songwriter A writes the music and some of the lyrics, Songwriter B writes the remainder of the lyrics. Neither are a work for hire and they want to register the song prior to recording.

They will file a single registration using Form PA. Both are considered claimants, so each author will be listed along with their contribution to the song referred to as the Nature of Authorship. For example...Songwriter A - "Words and Music", Songwriter B - "Words". This will establish that Songwriter A composed the melody whereas the lyrics were a joint venture.

Scenario 3:

Songwriter A writes 6 songs by themselves. They are not a work for hire, sole claimant, and they want to register them prior to recording.

Songwriter A can classify those songs as a collection and register that collection using a single Form PA. It's important to document in your personal records what songs are included in that collection for they will not be listed individually on the registration.

Scenario 4:

Songwriter A writes a song by themselves. They are the sole claimant, not a work for hire and they finance the recording of the song for release.

Songwriter A can file a Form SR to protect both the sound recording as well as the underlying song. Under Nature of Authorship they would need to list "Sound Recording, Words and Music".

This would also apply for an entire album as long as ALL the tracks were written exclusively by Songwriter A and the sound recordings were also owned exclusively by Songwriter A.

Scenario 5:

Record Label A is recording a full-length album of Songwriter A. Songwriter A has written some of the songs by themselves, but has also collaborated with a variety of songwriters on the others. None of them are a work for hire.

The songs Songwriter A wrote by themselves can be registered as a collection using Form PA. Each song that was co-authored with a different songwriter will require a separate Form PA registration with each songwriter listed as an author and their Nature of Authorship described for that song.

Record Label A will file Form SR to protect their sound recording.

Scenario 6:

A nationwide advertising agency has been hired by Company A to come up with a commercial for their Product A. The ad agency hires Songwriter A to write a jingle for Product A. The ad agency hires the lead singer from 80's Hairband A to record the jingle.

First and foremost, the jingle Songwriter A wrote would be considered a 'work for hire', therefore they would not have any ownership nor file any registration for it. However, depending on the contract between Company A and the advertising agency, the jingle and recording would be the Intellectual Property of one of them and the owner would likely file both Form PA and Form SR.

In conclusion

Well, this should be enough knowledge on copyright law to spin anybody's head eventhough this is just a high altitude view of how it applies to music. Things become really crazy when other claimants, like publishers, become involved or we try to understand how and where our IP is protected internationally. Like with any law, this can seem overly complicated and confusing, but that's okay, it's here to protect us and our art.