Q & A
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com answers your questions about the music industry.
Copyrights: Form PA or Form SR:
Q: If I'm sending in a copyright for a song, do I use Form PA or SR?
A: We called the US Copyright Office and spoke with Robert, one of their Information
Specialists. According to Robert, the Copyright Office's interpretation of the forms is
that Form PA is for words and music and musical arrangements, and that Form SR is for the
sound recording and the performance on the recording, as well as the arrangement of the
actual sounds on the recording.
In our own humble, non-legal advice giving opinion, if it's a song you've just written,
we'd go with Form PA. If you're the artist as well as the songwriter, the recording is
master quality, and the recording is the exact one that will be on the CD, we'd go with
Form SR. (Think "SR=Sound Recording.")
To save money, some artists who write their own songs skip Form PA and just do a Form SR
once the song is recorded on a CD for release to the public. But we never recommend this,
because if someone steals your song before you're finished recording, you have no legal
recourse. (You cannot sue for infringement unless the copyright is registered with the US
Copyright Office.) You may not think anyone will steal your songs, but it happens. We know
one unscrupulous bast*** who goes to local bands' shows, records songs he thinks have hit
potential, and then registers the copyrights himself before the artist does, knowing the
artists can't sue. (See next month's Q&A for more on Copyright.)
Further copyright information is available at the US
Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov. (Circulars 50 and 56 are particularly
helpful. The website has an excellent search function that will help you find them.) If
you need help deciding which forms you need, talk to an Information Specialist at (202)
707-3000 .
Q&A
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Answers in the MBADC Q&A are to be taken as general advice only and are not intended
as a substitute for legal advice from a competent entertainment or intellectual property
rights attorney.
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