Questions about licensing and copyright

[DayByStory]

Hello everyone, I am trying to get into the music licensing business and had a couple questions I'm hoping some of you can help me with.

What should I do BEFORE submitting music to a licensing site?
Do I need to have all my material copyrighted with the Library of Congress? Do I need to register it with ASCAP? If I register with ASCAP, does that mean it's copyrighted or I have to do that seperately?

As far as copyrighting, what consitutes a "collection?"
I haven't copyrighted anything in the past. Can I copyright ALL the songs and compositions I've written in one collection, even though they were seperate LPs, EPs, and singles over the past few years? Or does each album, EP, etc have to be a seperate collection?

Please help. I've tried to learn what I can from the Library of Congress website, but all the legal talk is hard for me to fully understand. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bongoboy]

First, register the work with the copyright office. Registration with ASCAP is not a copyright. You don't neccesarily have to register each song if it's part of an "album". This constitutes a "collection". If the works are done over a period of time, they must be compiled into one collection and that collection must be given a title to be copyrighted. I have done this, and although the collection consitsts of several songs, each individual track is covered under the copyright. Don't fall into the "make a CD and mail it to yourself" trap. This offers very little in the form of copyright protection. As far as ASCAP goes, each song should be registered individually. That way if someone wants to license your work, they can use only what they want. Also, when joining ASCAP, take the time to create your own publishing company. Royalties are split between the composer and publisher. It's in your best interest to be both. Hope this helps.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

IANaLb, I'm reading this right from the copyright site: A few years back, the library of congress added an electronic copyright (U.S. Copyright Office - Online Services (eCO: Electronic Copyright Office)) This allows you to pay a $35 fee and then upload a theoretically unlimited number of songs as part of a single collection.

So if you just want to be able to prove "yes, I wrote these songs", eCo is probably the way to go.