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About Copyrights

COPYRIGHT YOUR OWN MATERIAL

COVERING COPYRIGHTED WORK

MAKE A COMPILATION OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED MATERIAL

TO MAKE A COMPILATION OF ARTISTS RELEASING NEW MATERIAL OR COVERING OTHER'S MATERIAL

TO COPYRIGHT YOUR OWN MATERIAL

Technically, once you have recorded a song it is copyrighted. In order to ensure that this copyright will hold up in court, we strongly recommend that you copyright all of your original material. An official copyright through the Library of Congress protects you from anyone being able to record or use your songs without your specific permission, or without compensating you for the right to use it.

To Copyright your original material:

- Download and complete the appropriate copyright registration forms. In most cases, these will be Form PA (Performing Arts), and/or Form SR (Sound Recording) from the Library of Congress.

- Get together a CD or tape recording of the songs you want to copyright.

- Get together a lyric sheet for all of the songs on the CD or tape.

- Submit the above items along with a filing fee to the Library of Congress. Within about 2-3 weeks, you will receive a written confirmation that your copyright application is being processed. Although it may be several more months before your Copyright Certificate arrives, at this point you may wish to join a music licensing company such as ASCAP (212-621-6000, www.ascap.com), BMI (212-586-2000, www.bmi.com), or SESAC (212-586-3450, www.sesac.com) that can help you track the usage of your music and collect royalties for that usage.

COVERING COPYRIGHTED WORK

To cover a copyrighted piece, you'll need to obtain a Mechanical License to manufacture and distribute your version of the covered material.

A Mechanical License is written authorization from the publisher to manufacture and distribute a record, CD, or audio tape for a specific copyrighted musical composition. This is used for an audio-only recording, such as a compact disc, audio tape, or phonograph record. A mechanical license does not include lyric reprinting or sheet music, or use of previously recorded or sampled material. For these rights, you must contact the copyright owner directly.

If you can't find the copyright owner using the search feature on the right, you can find out who owns the copyright by contacting one of the following companies directly: ASCAP (212-621-6000, www.ascap.com), BMI (212-586-2000, www.bmi.com), or SESAC (212-586-3450, www.sesac.com).

Once you've found the copyright owner, you must obtain permission to use their content. You can either contact the copyright owner directly to negotiate your own rate, or you can contact the Harry Fox Agency (212-370-5330) who is authorized to issue mechanical licenses. Harry Fox Agency has made this process very simple if you visit www.songfile.com.

NOTE: If the rights to the content on your project belong to someone else, the copyright owner must be credited somewhere on your artwork.

TO MAKE A COMPILATION OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED MATERIAL

If you are making a record that is a compilation of previously released, copyrighted material (i.e. for a soundtrack, a greatest hits album, etc...) you must obtain permission to use the material from the owner of the sound recording copyright FOR EACH TRACK! Each copyright owner must issue you a Master Use License.

A Master Use License (also called a Master Recording License, or Sound Master License) is written authorization from the copyright owner to use their existing recorded material. This includes vocals, music, recognizable melodic and/or beat patterns, TV/movie dialog, spoken dialog, speeches, and sound effects. The most common example of this is when existing copyrighted material is sampled (whole or in part) and included in new recordings. This also applies to compilation recordings that feature original artists.

In order to manufacture and distribute your recording, you must also obtain a Mechanical License from each copyright owner.

A Mechanical License is written authorization from the publisher to manufacture and distribute a record, CD, or audio tape for a specific copyrighted musical composition. This is used for an audio-only recording, such as a compact disc, audio tape, or phonograph record. A mechanical license does not include lyric reprinting or sheet music, or use of previously recorded or sampled material. For these rights, you must contact the copyright owner directly.

You can find out who owns a copyright by contacting one of the following companies directly: ASCAP (212-621-6000, www.ascap.com), BMI (212-586-2000, www.bmi.com), or SESAC (212-586-3450, www.sesac.com).

Once you've found the copyright owner, you must obtain permission to use their content. You can either contact the copyright owner directly to negotiate your own rate, or you can contact the Harry Fox Agency (212-370-5330, www.songfile.com) who is authorized to issue mechanical licenses. A copyright attorney or similar fee-based service agency can help you obtain the Master Use License.

NOTE: If the rights to the content on your project belong to someone else, the copyright owner must be credited somewhere on your artwork

TO MAKE A COMPILATION OF ARTISTS RELEASING NEW MATERIAL OR COVERING OTHER'S MATERIAL

For each artist appearing on the recording that is signed with a label, you'll need to obtain a Courtesy Agreement from the artist's label in advance. For each artist appearing on the recording that is unsigned, you will need to obtain written permission to have their song appear on your recording.

A Courtesy Agreement is written permission given by a recording company to have one of their signed artists appear on another company's recording.

If any of the artists are covering other's material, you must also obtain a Mechanical License from each copyright owner.

A Mechanical License is written authorization from the publisher to manufacture and distribute a record, CD, or audio tape for a specific copyrighted musical composition. This is used for an audio-only recording, such as a compact disc, audio tape, or phonograph record. A mechanical license does not include lyric reprinting or sheet music, or use of previously recorded or sampled material. For these rights, you must contact the copyright owner directly.

If you can't find the copyright owner using the search feature on the right, you can find out who owns the copyright by contacting one of the following companies directly: ASCAP (212-621-6000, www.ascap.com), BMI (212-586-2000, www.bmi.com), or SESAC (212-586-3450, www.sesac.com).

Once you've found the copyright owner, you must obtain permission to use their content. You can either contact the copyright owner directly to negotiate your own rate, or you can contact the Harry Fox Agency (212-370-5330, www.songfile.com) who is authorized to issue mechanical licenses.

NOTE: If the rights to the content on your project belong to someone else, the copyright owner must be credited somewhere on your artwork.