Yes, It’s Complicated
You wish!
Next week’s post will be a special interview - you won’t want to miss this!!
Last week’s Bonus Round: The question: Where does inspiration come from? The musical answer provided by Ringo Starr himself: “It Don’t Come Easy”:
"It Don't Come Easy" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as a non-album single in April 1971. It was produced by Starr's former Beatles bandmate George Harrison, who also helped write the song, although only Starr is credited. Recording for the track took place in March 1970 at Trident Studios in London, with overdubs added in October. Starr and Harrison performed the song together in August 1971 at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows in New York City, a recording from which was released on the live album of the same name…” Credit: Wikipedia
It really doesn’t come easy. Today let’s talk about a couple of things that really don’t come easy.
First, copyright - I know I’ve talked about and linked to articles/videos about copyright, but those have all sort of glossed over just how complicated the process can be. I hear your sighs right now. Just about everything that results in income to us is “complicated”. I get it: learning to play the guitar and maybe another instrument (piano!) is “complicated”. So is the process of developing a singing voice, writing song lyrics, writing accompanying chords or melody, recording your songs, mastering or having your music mastered, publishing, releasing, performing and getting paid for your efforts. Complicated. All of it.
But worth it. Ensuring your work isn’t used without compensating you is worth it, and that’s what a copyright registered with the US Copyright Office will do best. Yes, you have a copyright on your works the instant you finish writing them. Can you prove it? You can provide evidence in a copyright infringement lawsuit in the form of a computer file, or lyric sheet or other proof, but nothing - absolutely nothing - beats a registration with the US Copyright Office.
A couple of weeks ago I linked to this YouTube video by Disc Makers (parent company of CD Baby) CEO Tony Van Veen. Linked again here because it’s great, and I want to flesh out a couple of items he mentioned:
At one point Mr. Van Veen mentions the pricing of copyright and says something like $45 to $85. He’s right, though there are some details that are really important for you to understand. A single work by a single author which is “unpublished” is $45 to copyright (I just checked the fee schedule at the copyright office this morning for the prices). A single work not meeting all of the criteria above is $65. A group of up to ten “unpublished” musical works is $85. Seems like a good deal. What if they’re not “unpublished”? Then, the fee is for the single application for a work that doesn’t meet the “unpublished” definition for each work separately - so if you have 10 unpublished songs - $85. 10 songs that don’t meet the definition of unpublished - $650.
What’s unpublished? Glad you asked:
The key word with the US Copyright office is “patience”. It takes a couple of months at least for your copyright to be approved. The good news is, once approved, your copyright runs from the date it was submitted. The other good news is that the tutorials on the US Copyright office website are actually pretty clear and helpful. The not so good news is the process, once started is a bit onerous and time consuming. Complicated, in fact. It gets a lot easier once you’ve done it and know what to expect. Worth it. The issue boils down to: Can you wait a bit to register your songs with a publishing admin and distributor? One question I don’t have an answer to is while you’re waiting for the copyright office to approve your copyright after you’ve submitted everything, can you “publish” it? That is, can you register your songs with a publishing admin company (like Songtrust or CD Baby Pro or others), and release it through a distributor (like Distrokid or CD Baby or others and it still be an “unpublished” work if it met the “unpublished” definition at the time of submission? Can you even perform it at a coffee shop if you get paid there? I don’t know the answer to this, and it’s probably a good question for an intellectual property (IP)/copyright lawyer. Personally, I’m squarely in the “patience is a virtue” camp - I’ll wait. Your mileage may vary.
Here’s the current fee schedule:
“Group of unpublished works” is the category that applies to songs (and other works as well).
Here’s the link to create an account or login to your current one:
US Copyright Office account login/create account
Take advantage of the tutorials - a bit time consuming, but they’re pretty thorough.
Once you do have your confirmation of copyright registration, make sure you include the registration number and date in each song’s metadata, along with your PRO IPI for both you as the composer and your business entity as the publisher, ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code), ISRC (International Standard Recording Code - if you own the master recording as either an audio file or video with audio file - copyright that separately - you can do up your 20 recordings as a group - see the tutorials on the US Copyright Office website). Include anything else that will identify your song in a circumstance where you earn royalties. Some examples: live performance of a cover of your song(s), streaming or downloads of a cover, YouTube, television/film/advertising that includes all or a portion of your song or a cover of your song.
Next subject: Songwriting
I’ve included a bunch of links, some of which may be helpful. Why just some? Your mileage will vary. Songwriting, especially solo, is highly personal. Some things will resonate for you, others won’t. Look through all of them at your leisure, pick the stuff that works for you, revisit the stuff that doesn’t sometime, because as you write more songs your perspective will change. It just does. There are lots of tips and tricks and well meaning articles heavy on advice. Some may help, others won’t. At least right now, but they may if you’re stuck, or just need a different perspective. I’ll include my own ideas in both categories.
So, my take on songwriting, FWIW: Everyone thinks their lyrics suck, their music, chord progressions, melody, phrasing, meter, rhythm and rhyming structures are juvenile and that no one will ever listen to them or buy them or cover them. Everyone, at least at some point, will believe each of those things sometimes. So what? Keep doing it anyway. Someone wrote and recorded and released “Baby Shark” (and now that’s in your head). They made a lot of money because they did it anyway (great, now it’s in my head, too).
I look back at the thirty or so songs I’ve written or are in some stage of being written and have felt every one of those things. Why bother? Because every one of them, even the truly dopey, silly songs are still fun for me to play, I learned something from each of them, and I had a pretty good time doing it. Still do. Don’t stop!
You’re not alone. In fact, you have a lot of company and more every day. The last couple of years have been difficult for everyone and a good number of folks found some comfort or release or sense of accomplishment in writing songs or any other activity that helped. You can, too. Even if you’re the only audience that ever hears them (but play them at least once for someone else! - you’ll be surprised in a good way!), you’ve accomplished something most other peeps won’t ever even attempt. Do some more of it.
Some links:
Songs from folklore - historical article about blues roots - really interesting stuff about where inspiration can come from
Songs that were written in 10 minutes surprising list
Song analysis intriguing article that analyzes a commercial song - a great perspective on a lot of things we’ve talked about on here
A songwriter’s insights some great answers to questions we all have
So, please join me next Friday for an interview with one of the people I talk about a lot on here!!!
Bonus Round: You’ll be glad you were here!
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic