How to register your song or beats

WinSoms asked a very important and great question. I am no experts, but I am a song writer, producer, and manager and I also record videos so I had to do my Homework and learn how to protect my hard work. To be honest you are never 100% protected, unless you have money to fight back if someone was to take your work…That’s just my opinion. But this is the proper way to copyright your lyrics, songs, beats, etc.

There are a few ways to copyright your music. We all probably know about the “Poor Man’s way,” which is mailing a copy of your work to yourself, but you are not suppose to open the copy. That’s cool if you do not have the money to copyright it with the Library of Congress. However, TECHNICALLY Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. To register your music with the Copyright Office, you will have proof that you are the owner of the music, but you will also get certain rights when it comes to lawsuits, and benefits for you if you must make a claim for copyright infringement… just in case someone try to use your music without your permission or the right to do so.

Now if you are the owner of both the song composition, as I am, and the sound recording of a song, then you will need to use a Copyright Form SR to register both of these separate elements as one registration. This is sometimes normal when it comes to Producers who write their own music and then record it as a production.

You send your request for a Form SR or PA Application to the Copyright office or you can download the application online www.copyright.gov. The PA Form is for published and unpublished works of the performing arts (musical works and dramatic works, pantomimes and choreographic works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works), use Form PA (Performing Arts). Musical compositions that are recorded on disc or cassettes are works of the performing arts, and should be registered with Form PA. There is a $45 registration fee, but it is well worth it. The address to the Library of Congress is listed below:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E
Washington, DC. 20559-6000

Also, it will be good IDEA to register with a publishing company such as; BMI and or ASCAP. I am registered with BMI. I hope I answered your question winSoms.