Step by step guide on how to publish and copyright your music
Arguably the two most important aspects of the music business is registering a copyright and publishing your music. Both of these important steps are what allows the artist to get paid. Most artists regardless of their musical talent or genre they’re in has heard of these terms before. However, very few know what it truly means. Many desire to publish music and copyright their songs. But most don’t know where to start. It’s a process and it may seem difficult initially but with the right assistance your work will be protected in no time. Read our step by step guide on how to effectively publish music and copyright songs like a true professional.
1. What is music publishing?
Before we go over the process on how to publish music and copyright songs. First let’s establish what music publishing is. Music publishing is the owning of songs in the form of copyrights and earning money from the usage of the song itself. It can refer to a composition and/or a sound recording. Once you own the copyright to a song (aka composition) or sound recording (aka master). You have the right to earn money and collect royalties from every stream of income that song produces. The stream can be a variety of avenues including the song being played on the radio, tv show, commercial, live performance and more.
2. What is copyrighting a song?
Another part of the process we must cover before we go into details on how to publish music, is to learn what it means to copyright a song. A copyright is a form of intellectual property protected by the laws of the United States. A music copyright is an original composition and sound recording that grants the author exclusive rights to the use of that work and protects the work for the author.
3. How music publishing and copyrighting relates to each other
A lot of indie artists tend to ask, “What’s the different between music publishing and copyrighting?” Or they may ask, “which one is more important copyrighting or music publishing? However, music publishing and copyrighting are two of the same categories that can get compared to each other. They’re two different steps of the entire process that relate to one another. To copyright is to gain the legal foundation and ownership of a musical work. To publish is the manage and exploit those copyrights, which then allows you to get paid. So to sum it up. Copyrighting music provides you with legal ownership, and to publish music is to manage and gain income from that copyright. To get further information on how these two tasks relate to one another, our music business course is a great resource.
4. How PRO’s play a role in this process
Another important piece of the music publishing and copyrighting puzzle are PRO’s, which stands for performing rights organizations. A performing rights organization is an agency that represents songwriters and music publishers to make sure you’re paid rightful royalties for the use of your music. Before you publish your music, you should sign up with a PRO first. This allows you to track the royalties that are rightfully yours. The two most popular PROs are ASCAP and BMI. Both of these entities will track your songs, collect and distribute your royalties. However, keep in mind it’s only for royalties obtained from publicly performed or broadcasted music. To receive to other royalties, you would have to go through other avenues, which can further be explained in our music business course, perfect for independent artists.
5. How the entire process works
Now that you have the definition of each factor that plays a role in music publishing and copyrighting. It’s now time to put the entire process together and see how it works. Below is a step by step guide on which step comes first to successful publish your music and copyright your songs.
- Write, create and record your song.
- Copyright your song to protect it. You’re going to go through the U.S Copyright Office website which is Copyright.Gov
- Register with PRO (performing rights organization) as a songwriter. This will allow you to track your publicly performed and broadcasted music royalties.
- Publish your song. You can do this by signing a deal with a music publisher or music publishing company. You can also be your own music publisher and manage the legalities by yourself. An important tip to keep in mind as an artist and songwriter. When you register with a PRO, by default you’re automatically your own music publisher. It’s not until you sign a deal with a music publisher or music publishing company that your ownership changes.
This step by step guide on how to publish music and copyright songs puts every independent artist on the perfect path to controlling your career and protecting your work. However, it doesn’t stop here. Learning how to effectively manage the business side of your music is an on-going process that’s very rewarding in the end.