Copy What?

What’s on the office wall?

Yesterday’s Bonus Round: The Beatles 1967 B-side song “Baby, You’re A Rich Man”, later released on the Magical Mystery Tour album, contains the lyric “You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside a zoo”, thought by some to be an insult aimed at the band’s manager Brian Epstein.

So, you have a song you’ve written, what now? What follows is just my opinion, and NOT legal or professional advice of any kind, but I would urge you to always keep in mind you’re about to enter into the music industry, which is brutally driven by, wait for it……money. What’s the first step? Planning.

Being a musician, singer, songwriter, independent recording artist, signing with a label - any of those things and anything else you are or do that touches the music “industry”, in my humble opinion, requires a great deal of thought and especially, planning.

Here’s a plan, my plan, yours will and should be different in a way that fits your goals, abilities and maybe most importantly, your perseverance. Every musician/songwriter has doubts. Doubts about their ability, aversion to inevitable criticism, periods where they just don’t want to do it anymore. Do it anyway. Doing it with a plan helps.

First, become a member of a performing rights organization, a “PRO”. In the United States, there are 3 main PROs. ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) are the two most accessible. SESAC (The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers) is a little different in operation, and a little less accessible. Research them all!

Being a member of a PRO will give you an “IPI” number. IPI is an acronym for Interested Party Information - you as a songwriter, whether solo, or in collaboration with other writers, are an Interested Party - meaning you own at least some, maybe all, of the rights to a song. Make sure you include your IPI number and PRO affiliation in header “metadata” with your lyrics.

Next, consider forming a business entity to hold the rights you have to your songs. In most states, (maybe all, dunno) you can form an “LLC”, a Limited Liability Company with your state’s Secretary of State (or equivalent) office, usually a relatively simple and inexpensive (but by no means free!) procedure. Your accountant (yes, you should have one, you’ll need the service at some point) will thank you.

Next: copyright!! Your copyright exists when you create your song, but it’s existence is not exactly “evidence” of your ownership. Always write/type “©️ (Year), (Your Music LLC, or at least your name if you don’t have an LLC), All Rights Reserved” on everything you write, even notes, handwritten/printed/computer file lyrics, chord charts, sheet music - anything. That will certainly provide more evidence, but nothing beats a copyright filed and accepted by the US Copyright office. I often see articles about copyrights that claim they are expensive. In the world of music, a US copyright is really cheap insurance. Yes, an individual song copyright is $45 (last I checked, maybe more now). But there is a substantial savings for “batch” copyrights - more than four songs, up to a limit of 10 songs for $85 (again, last time I checked, may be more). A copyright takes a while to process, a couple of months at least, but your copyright is effective the day you file, not when it’s finally approved. If someone ever plagiarizes your lyrics, you’ll save a lot in lawyer fees - a government copyright is definitive evidence of rights ownership in court.

There are two sides to a “composition” copyright - the writer’s rights, and the publisher’s rights. You’ll have to identify both in your copyright application. Here’s where your LLC comes in. You (and your collaborators/co-writers, if any) will own the rights to the lyrics and melody. The publisher (your LLC, or other business entity) own the publication rights. Ideally, you want to own both. You’ll get a copyright number once your application is approved, make sure it’s in your song’s metadata.

There is another copyright to think about. The “Master Recording” copyright is a copyright of an original recording. You should have one, whether you produce it, or you have it professionally mixed, mastered and produced. You may have to split rights with a professional mastering/producing entity.

So, a lot to think about, and probably enough for today. Next week we’ll talk about independently recording and producing your music, and maybe a little about record “labels” (probably very little - let’s face it, if you’re good enough to be courted by a major label, you’re probably not spending a lot of time on this SubStack - ouch!). There is much more planning to be done before you independently release a song!!

Bonus Round: A song by a well known and lucky artist who might call if you leave a message.

Cheers, and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic