The different rights inside a song

You hear a familiar melody played on a piano, then hear a singer's famous recording of it. You recognize the song both times. That recognition shows the split this article is about: the song itself and that particular recording are two separate copyrighted works, and they are commonly owned and licensed separately 1.

• The musical work (the composition) is the music and any lyrics. Its authors are the composers, lyricists and songwriters 2. Its owner controls copying, distribution, derivative works such as remixes and videos, public performance and public display 1.
• The sound recording (the "master") is one fixed series of sounds, such as a particular performance. Its authors are the performers, the producer who captured and edited the sounds, or both, or an employer or commissioning party when the recording is a work made for hire 1 2. Its owner controls copying, distribution and derivative works, but its public-performance right covers only digital audio transmissions, and it has no public-display right 1.

Copyright in both starts the moment each is fixed: written down as sheet music or a digital file, or recorded as an audio file 1. So "I own the song" does not tell a collaborator, filmmaker or licensee what you can offer. Say which work you control: "I co-wrote the composition with Sam, and the label owns the recording."

Songwriting and recording can have different contributors

Suppose two friends write a song and later record it with a producer and session musicians. Make two lists.

• Who wrote the composition. If the two friends wrote music and lyrics intending their parts to merge into one song, it is a joint work 4. Write down each writer's agreed share now.
• Who made the recording. The featured performers, the producer, or both can be authors of the recording 2. Producers, mixers and engineers who do not own the copyright are paid under their contracts 3.

Paying for studio time does not by itself make you the owner of the recording. A recording is a work made for hire only when an employee made it within the scope of the job, or when it is a qualifying commissioned work and the parties signed a written work-made-for-hire agreement 2. Put ownership of the master and every contributor's payment in a signed agreement before the session.

Register the two works the way they are actually owned 2:

1. Same owner for both? Use one Standard Application for the composition and the recording when both are on the same phonorecord and the same claimant owns both. Choose "Sound Recording" as the type of work, or you will have to start over.
2. Only you? You may use the simpler Single Application only if both works are on the same phonorecord, you are the only performer featured in the recording, and you alone own both works.
3. Different owners? File separately. If you recorded someone else's composition, register only the recording. If someone else recorded your song, register only the composition.

A registration for the recording does not cover the composition, and a registration for the composition does not cover the recording 2. File online at copyright.gov/registration 3 and check the current amount on the Copyright Office fee page 5. Register before anyone infringes or within three months of publication: registration is required before you can sue over a U.S. work, and registering in that window keeps statutory damages and attorney's fees available 3.

The proposed use tells you which permissions matter

To put an existing recording in a short film, you need two licenses: a synchronization ("sync") license for the composition, usually from the music publisher, and a master use license for the recording, usually from the record label 3. There is no compulsory license for either; you negotiate both directly with the owners 3.

Record your own performance instead and you no longer need the master owner: the rights in a sound recording do not reach a new, independent recording, even one that imitates the original 4. You still need the sync license for the composition 3. For how to ask, see How to ask for permission.

A subscription that lets you stream music at home is not permission to put the track in an advertisement. A platform's music library licenses tracks for the uses its terms list. Before you publish, check that those terms name your exact use. Moving the same video to another channel, a paid campaign or a client's account is a new use, so check again. "Licensed" means nothing until you know what the license covers.

A cover and a video are not the same use

To release an audio-only cover (CD, vinyl, download or interactive stream), U.S. law gives you a compulsory "mechanical" license for a nondramatic musical work once recordings of it have been distributed to the U.S. public with the owner's authority 4 3. You may arrange the song to fit your style, but not change its basic melody or fundamental character 4.

• Physical copies. Serve a notice of intention on the composition owner before, or within 30 days after, making copies and before distributing any. If the Copyright Office's records do not identify the owner and an address, file the notice with the Office instead 4; the recordation fee is on the fee page 5.
• Downloads and streams. Download stores and streaming services cover these with a blanket license through the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) 4.

The mechanical license does not cover copying someone else's recording, such as a sample: for that you need the recording owner's authorization 4. It does not cover video either. Recordings that accompany an audiovisual work are not "phonorecords," so a cover on YouTube, in a film or in an ad needs a sync license 3.

Public performance adds two more payment routes:

• Composition. Performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR) license public performance of musical works, non-exclusively, to radio, TV, streaming services, bars, restaurants and arenas 3.
• Recording. AM/FM radio stations, bars, restaurants and live venues do not need permission to perform a sound recording 3. Non-interactive webcasting and certain satellite and cable radio use a compulsory license paid through SoundExchange: 50 percent to the copyright owner, 45 percent to the featured artist, and 2.5 percent each to non-featured musicians and non-featured vocalists through the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund 3.

Each organization collects one stream of money. Registering with the MLC is not registration with the Copyright Office, and joining a PRO does not collect your digital mechanical royalties 3.

Clear information can make collaboration easier

Keep one release sheet for every track: the composition title, writers and agreed shares, publisher and PRO, and its ISWC; the recording owner, featured artist, non-featured performers, producer, and its ISRC; the contracts; and every sample or borrowed element with its license. You get an ISWC from the regional issuing agency, which ASCAP operates for the U.S. and Canada; you must be registered with a PRO, though not necessarily ASCAP. Your label or distributor usually assigns the ISRC 3.

Then, for a song you release yourself, in this order 3:

1. Register the composition and the recording with the Copyright Office.
2. Affiliate with a PRO so composition performance royalties reach you.
3. Claim your songs in the MLC's online portal so digital mechanical royalties reach you.
4. Register with SoundExchange as copyright owner and featured artist. Non-featured performers register with the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Fund; they do not have to be union members.
5. If you agreed to share your SoundExchange royalties with your producer, mixer or engineer, send SoundExchange a letter of direction.

In a traditional publishing deal the songwriter assigns the copyright in the song to the publisher 3, so have a music attorney review any publishing or record contract before you sign it.

When a filmmaker asks to use a track, you can now answer in one sentence: "I control this recording; the composition belongs to these writers and their publisher; here is the use we can license." The audience hears one song. Behind it, a clear record of who controls each work lets everyone get paid.