Members Iamthesky Posted October 13, 2011 Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 I'm dotting i's and crossing t's for our first EP CD release. I've read and absorbed pretty much everything I've found online and I'm left with some questions, which I'll present as straightforward as I can. Feel free to smack me on the wrist with a ruler if I've missed an obvious thread I should have found too. I'm trying to avoid shortcuts as I go through this process so that when we hit the full length album planned for later next year, everything will be already set up and smooth. We'll hit digital later. Right now our priority is physical media we can put into the hands of fans. Copyright registration: We are simplifying matters in that the entire band gets authorship credit for all songs. On the CD, should they be listed individually, as the band name, or "no-one cares"? We perform one cover on the EP. Do I simply leave this off the songs I upload to the US Copyright Office, or do we need to do a separate SR and PA for the EP as a whole? The EP isn't ready yet, but we have other recordings of the same songs. Can I simply upload these earlier versions (and other songs we play live) to cover copyright on form PA? Should I then do another SR for the EP versions? Publishing "company" versus individual names: Most album releases seem to be covered by a (sometimes one-time) publishing name, of the form A Name We Just Thought Of Music. Can a non-incorporated entity such as this be a copyright claimant rather than all four band member names, and are there advantages for doing so? Should the entity own the ISRC codes, should everyone in the band, or can just one person (i.e. me) on behalf of the whole band? How about the Mechanical License for our cover? Can I simply apply for it myself or does the whole band (individually or under the band name) or an entity need to do so? (The song we're covering isn't licensed through HFA. Ugh.) PRO membership: Say we want to join BMI. Does the band join BMI, do the individual band members, or does the music publishing entity name join it? Record label: Does the term "record label" have any relation to us publishing our own first CD? Should we come up with something, or should we simply ignore it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted October 13, 2011 Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 PRO membership:Say we want to join BMI. Does the band join BMI, do the individual band members, or does the music publishing entity name join it?Record label:Does the term "record label" have any relation to us publishing our own first CD? Should we come up with something, or should we simply ignore it? Individual persons, composer, songwriter, lyricist join the BMI author society. Also record companies and record labels can be member of BMI, or any other author society. A record label is of significance when the artist/band licenced the recording to a record label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 13, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 13, 2011 I think you are over-thinking this a bit...it is a EPCD you will most likely sell at shows. When you have sold 5,000, come back and ask the same questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Iamthesky Posted October 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 I'm definitely over-thinking it, but better to start out overthinking and find out there's things we can gloss over this time, than to underthink and end up with a lot of "OMG I have to do that too???" items. That said, I personally would never have taken this route with the copyright registration. We haven't taken any route yet -- I'm asking before we do, and it seemed like that would have been easier. I posted so I could be corrected where I'm wrong, that's the whole point. What route would you take, and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 14, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 14, 2011 Songwriters can be funny...they might feel a tad possessive over theiri work...I do... So what happens down the line when someone(god forbid), leaves the band? Who keeps track if any $ ever comes in over and above the cost of initial production? Let those who composed the music and lyrics get their due credit. They earned it. Encourage every member of the band to contribute songs, rather than relying on one or two people, and then expect them to share their work. The moment you give something to someone that they didn't earn, you start that rock rolling down the slippery slope... I'm jus'sayin'... Every band I have been in agreed the songwriters should copyright their own material under their name(s), but the band gets to record it. If I wrote the song, and I want to do a different version later on, maybe with a different band, I don't think the drummer or the vocalist, who had nothing to do with the creation of the song, should get a piece of the money should the song be a hit down the road...YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted October 16, 2011 Members Share Posted October 16, 2011 Songwriters can be funny... "I Do It My Way™©®" Published worldwide, as well protected under pending international ♀ and ♂ patent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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