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Is it necessary to copyright alternate mixes of your songs for music production libraries?

Many music production libraries ask for alternate versions (mixes) of my songs and I have provided them in the past.

For example, "Original Song Title” and “Original Song Title - No Melody".

Some of the alternate mixes sound like a completely different song when I complete them.

Is it necessary to copyright those mixes using form PA and/or form SR from the Library of Congress?

Is it necessary to register those alternate titles with your PRO (i.e. BMI, ASCAP, etc.)?

Thank you.

Zeke

Here is a link the Library of Congress provided me when I asked them this question. It seems like such a gray area.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf

Hi Zeke,

That's a tough question. Last year, we wrote an email to our PRO (BMI) asking that very same question. They told us, "Don't worry about it. Just register the main track." But about 10 months ago, we got into a music library company that requires us to make alternate mixes for every full track we create. For example, if we write 10 tracks, we'll typically have 40-50 alternate mixes (one without the main melody, one without the percussion, one without strings, etc.). They, in turn, always register each and every track with BMI!

So, the bottom line is, good luck trying to figure that one out! But if the alternate mix truly sounds "different," it's probably best to register it as well. This might be beneficial if you're music is with Tunesat or one of the digital fingerprinting companies.

Any other opinions out there?

~ Tracey & Vance Marino

Tracey & Vance,

Thank you for your advice.

Regards,

Zeke

Copyright really just covers the essentials; what makes your song yours or unique. A song, for copyright purposes, is considered to be lyrics and melody, but NOT the chord progression, because the law recognizes that those get recycled, and come in and out of style. Also, it's axiomatic that you can't copyright a bassline, but you might consider a beat loop with percussion elements and a very specific bass synth patch to be copyright-able, even if there's no traditional melody; a non-generic bass sound functions as the melody in that event, but you'd need to have something with a little more flava than a standard Rhumba pattern to differentiate your loop from the sort of thing where you push a button on one of those auto-chord organs. Long story short, I approach it this way; if the alternate version is recognizably a derivative work of something I already copyrighted, I won't bother, unless I determine that it should be protected for a given use or placement. This is a different issue from PRO registration; I expect a library will register every version that's placed, at least.

Zeke,

As of this writing, the vast majority of publishers only register the main track with the PRO. The exception would be if an alternate version has different composers (such as a lyricist not being credited on the instrumental version of a song).
This may change once digital fingerprinting becomes established as a primary method of tracking music, but if it comes to that point you can always register the alternate mixes then. So IMHO no point in doing it now.

As far as copyright registration, if you use form SR you can copyright each mix individually since they are technically speaking different 'sound recordings'.
Is it worth doing so? In my opinion no, BUT I'm not a lawyer and therefore not qualified to dispense legal advice; and since the only situation in which copyright registration truly matters is if you a trying to sue someone for infringement, or are being sued for same, only a qualified entertainment attorney can give you a dependable and definitive answer to this part of the question.

HTH,

matto

So Matt,
Since this topic has been raised recently, do you register a copyright for every piece of music you produce?
Do you have copies of this info ready to go for each song you might sign?
Personally, I've never been asked for any info about copyrights when signing tunes...what are your thoughts on this?
Thanks.

EDIT:
Never mind...I found the answer.