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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | I'm getting my "ducks in a row" with the CD and need to know about ASCAP and BMI. I have no real idea what this means... Should get an account and list our originals as "ASCAP" or "BMI"... What does this really do for us? Should I really worry about protecting our music from pirate performance, broadcast, film scoring or reproduction? I'd like to hear from you guys who HAVE registered (Jonmark? Sergio?)... Our run of physical CDs will be small and who knows about digital downloads? |
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October 2005
Posts: 4069
Location: Utah | If you haven't yet, the first thing I would do is submit the entire CD for copyright registration. With timely registration you are able to recover legal fees if you sue someone for piracy. Which means you can get a lawyer to take your case. If you do not register, you still own the copyrights but won't find a lawyer to take a small time case.
As to joining ASCAP or BMI, I dunno which might be better for collecting performance royalties.
There are also potential royalties for the composition. I think you need to submit the songs to a publisher to get that angle covered. |
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Thanks, Fly. So.... is "copyright registration" not the same as BMI or ASCAP? If not, how does one go about taking your advice? I'm looking at a few CDs by local Chicago guys and I'm not seeing any mention of copyright or ASCAP... I guess the question is not what CAN I do, but what is smart to do? Is there a go-to registration website or something of the sort? |
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October 2005
Posts: 4069
Location: Utah | I registered my daughter's works 5 or 6 years ago. I have forgotten many of the details. Things have changed a little bit since then, including an electronic method of submitting the work. There is a FAQ at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ56.pdf to help you get started.
The basics are that there are 2 different things which can be copyrighted with your songs. One is the composition itself. These are the intellectual or musical ideas which could be written onto paper. The second is the sound recorded. This would be your CD of you playing the song. The second one is what you register when you send a CD to the copyright office.
The copyright exists the moment you create your work. The issue is enforcing it, which is why you want to register your work soon enough after release to the public. I forget what the time is, but it is something like 3 or 6 months. If you register it within this time period you are able to automatically recover your legal fees if you successfully sue someone for violation of your copyright. Without such guarantee it may not be financially viable to sue someone.
To register the composition, you register the work with a publisher and then with The Harry Fox Agency. If someone else wants to perform your composition or make a recording of their performance of your composition, they are supposed to pay royalties to Harry Fox who then passes payment to you. You can create your own publishing company super easy and then register with Harry Fox.
If someone wants to play your CD on the radio or use it as a soundtrack in a tv show or movie, they pay royalties to ASCAP or BMI. Those agencies disburse royalties to the recording artist. However, much of those royalties are never paid to small time artists. I think you would get paid for a tv show soundtrack for instance. But a couple of plays on radio, or being used in a bar as background music will probably not result in any payments to you.
The ultimate authority on how musicians (don't) get paid is Donald Passman's book. He's a music industry lawyer, so he knows how it works. It is too detailed, but a quick overview of each chapter will give you a good working understanding. http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468/... |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4069
Location: Utah | Additional thoughts.
If you register you sound recording by sending a CD to the copyright office, you do indirectly establish a date of creation of the composition. Let's say the next Bond movie uses one of your songs as the title track, performed by some other artist. Your CD established that the song existed as of the date you registered it, so it makes it much easier for you to claim they stole your idea than had you never registered the CD. While it doesn't establish that you wrote the song, it sure shows when it was written.
There are 2 ways to register a song as a sound recording. One way is to register it by itself. You could submit each song by itself. But you have to pay for each song, which gets expensive. The other way is to submit the entire CD as a compilation. All of the songs are covered by one copyright, and it is cheaper overall. I don't know of any drawback to using the compilation registration. |
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July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | It collect the songwriter and publishers royalitys.
I am leaning toward ASCAP. |
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Wow thanks Fly (and PEZ). I see I have much to learn and to do! You never know ... it is not impossible that a tune of ours could be used for a video or TV. I'd sure feel stupid hearing our hard work just "grabbed" with no acknowledgment or payment. This happened to a local guitar hero named Goran Ivanovic. Some years ago he relates hearing a solo of his (classical nylon original) in a documentary. No credit, no money. He was angry! |
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ASCAP/BMI question
