PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Songwriting Do you copyright your songs before showing it to producers?

Thank you again @Mike Halloran for being so generous in sharing your knowledge, I really appreciate it.

I've reread your posts various times, some references and called the US Copyright office a few times. I think I finally grasp how this all works, but still had some questions:

1. The LOC told me that once I register Unpublished Work(s), I don't have to re-register them once they are published, that they are still protected.

Not sure why they told me that, as you mention in your first post that once the song is published, it needs to be re-registered as a Published Work (To have the right to litigate in a US court in case of infringement). Not sure why they made it seem like those legal rights roll over, if originally registered as Unpublished Works.

(Also, Circular 34 states the following re: Group Registration of Unpublished Works: "A registration for a group of unpublished works or a group of unpublished photographs will remain in effect even if the works included in the group are subsequently published, either separately or together. You can seek another registration for the first published edition of a work in the group. However, it is entirely optional and not necessary to secure the statutory benefits of registration.")

2. If Published Works need to be registered with the US Copyright office to seek legal damages for infringement, how come the same is not required for Unpublished Works, and you can use 3rd party services instead of the US Copyright office (eg. Songuard)?






3. This is probably my main goal - finding a sensible balance between protecting one's songs, and not spending thousands of dollars each year to copyright songs.

So from what I'm gathering, the most reasonable yet prudent method is to first register songs as Unpublished Works with a 3rd party service. (if showing them around)

Then once ready to release, re-register them as Published Works with the LOC. (Up to 20 if released at the same time on one album).

My plan, however, is to release a single every 4-6 weeks, and an EP once or twice a year, with some of the previously released singles packaged together with a few new songs.

Given that plan, I would have to:

1. Re-register each song (released as a single, previously registered as an Unpublished Work) as a Published Work, individually. ($45 for single author, same claimant, one work, not for hire. Form SR and PA together.)

2. Register the EP with new songs as a group of works published on an album of music - $65 (excluding the singles (Published Works) previously registered with the LOC).

If 3 of the 5 songs on the EP have been previously published as singles, I can publish that EP on Spotify (and physically on a CD) as one cohesive album of 5 songs, however on my group of works copyright application for the EP, only the 2 previously unpublished songs will be registered, along with the previously unused album artwork. So the copyright for the EP will only have 2 songs (unreleased), but on Spotify and other places the EP will appear with 5 songs in it.

3. EP Album artwork can be registered under the group of works published. However, the artwork of each single needs to be registered separately as a different work?
(Seems like it would be cost-prohibitive to copyright the album artwork if it needs to be done separately and individually for each single).

Are those correct assumptions?

I was under the impression I could register a group of 10 songs together as Published Works, once ready to publish, and set the "Published" date as whatever date I planned to release the song in the future. Or some variation letting me release songs separately, yet registering them together under one group publication as a group work. However there seems to be no such option, and wouldn't make sense given the definition of a Published and Unpublished work.

(Although I could perhaps copyright all 5 songs on the EP together, and sell it as a CD on a public (yet hard to find website), and just follow my aforementioned release schedule on Spotify, other platforms, etc(?)).