You’ve recorded your first album. Now what?

If you are recording an album yourself, here are some important steps you should take to protect your music and to make sure you collect royalties that are owed to you when your music is performed on television, radio, and the internet.

Register your copyrights

An important step to take to protect your rights is to register your copyrights with the US copyright office.

If you are recording your own music yourself, there are potentially two copyrights you could hold: a copyright in the composition and a copyright in the sound recording.  You can and should register both.

Furthermore it is important for to do this within three months of when you release the CD.  When you register does not affect your copyright ownership; however, registering your copyrights within three months will entitle you to additional rights if your copyrights are infringed.

Statutory damages and attorney’s fees are only available to you as remedies if your copyrights are registered within three months.  Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits will be available as a remedy in case of an infringement.  Because actual damages can be difficult to prove in many cases, registering your copyrights within three months has significant benefits.

To register your copyright you will need to fill out a eCo form on the US copyright office’s website.  The eCo form can be used to register copyrights for compositions and for master recordings.  Each form submitted will cost $35.

However, if you have multiple songs with same copyright owners, they can be submitted on one form as a collection.  This will save you from having to pay the $35 registration fee for each song.  The copyright office will also require you to submit two copies of the work with your application.

Register with a Performing Rights Organization

If you are writing your own music, you must register with a performing rights organization- BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC – in order to collect public performance royalties when your music is played on television, radio, the internet, etc.

Performing rights organizations split the income they pay out 50/50 between composers and publishers.  As a songwriter, you must register to collect the 50% owed to you as a writer.

Furthermore, many independent artists own their own publishing.  If you own your own publishing you must also register yourself as a publisher so you can collect the publisher’s 50% of royalties.

Register with SoundExchange

In addition to registering with a performance rights organization, you should also register with Sound Exchange.

SoundExchange was established to administer the collection and distribution of royalties generated by certain performances of sound recordings on the internet (which is a different function from performance rights organizations that collect royalties for use of the composition).

SoundExchange splits the royalties it collects between the owner of the sound recording (SRCO), featured artists, and nonfeatured artists and musicians.  If you are a featured artist on sound recording, you need to register with SoundExchange as a featured artist by filling out the Royalty Distribution Information for Featured Artist form on their website.  Featured artists receive 45% of performance royalties for a sound recording.

Also, as an independent artist making your own recordings, you may own your own masters.  If you do own your own masters, you must also register with SoundExchance as a SRCO.  SRCO receive 50% of performance royalties for a sound recording.

So, now that you know, protect your music and make sure you are receiving the performance royalties you are entitled to by taking these three steps: register your copyrights, register with a performing rights organizations, and register with SoundExchange.

Each site also has a lot of helpful information on how to fill out the proper forms so that you can do it all yourself.

Good luck!