Sure I’m happy to assist! But full disclosure I’m not a lawyer. So this advice is just what I would hypothetically do. First step is Copyright.gov if you are in the US. Copyright using the SR form (sound recording) when you have your final version ready for distribution, but before you give it to the distributor. You could potentially copyright your contribution to the underlying work (your lyrics / melody) before you have your final mix done. If you want to go this route, you would do this using the PA form. But after you have your final mix done, you would still need to copyright the Sound Recording (using SR form). A lot of people wait until they have their final version and use the SR form which can cover both the underlying work and the sound recording if you fill out the form as such. Important make sure you only copyright your actual contribution. If you didn’t write the music (only the lyrics), don’t copyright the music. It’s not yours if you didn’t write it, even if you lease it. Leasing is just the right to use. It doesn’t matter who copyrights it first. Truth is truth. You can’t falsify a document and expect to win a lawsuit later. That would not be wise and will likely wind up hurting you more than helping if the song ever takes off. After you’ve copy written the work that you did, you go to a distributor like CDbaby.net or distrokid, or Tunecore. There maybe 1 or 2 others but those are the main ones), and they will put your music on all major streaming platforms. Pay the fee and it goes up. It’s that easy. Make sure you only upload highest quality files since your song will be digitally streaming it will get digitally encoded so you want to upload highest quality wave files you can to maintain quality after that process. At the moment highest accepted quality is: 16 bit 44.1 for CD baby (last I checked they still don’t take 24 Bjt / 48khz). or 24 Bit 48khz for Distrokid. You also want to register the song with a performing rights organization like BMI, ASCAP, SESAC etc to be able to collect certain royalties. In addition, whichever distributor you choose typically has an option you can opt into to start a publishing company for you to collect publishing and other royalties (if you sign up for this through your distributor you won’t sign up for songtrust, and you won’t sign up for sound exchange. That distributor will also register you with the MLC if you opt in for these services. If you don’t sign up through your distributor you would need to sign up for theMLC.com as self administered. If you are going that self administered route you should also signup for Soundexchange (but if you opt into it all through the distributor, they will do it for you. If you sign up for songtrust, they do the MLC register for you but you should still sign up for sound exchange. From Songtrust.com: “ Do you need both sound exchange and songtrust? SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties generated by sound recordings on behalf of recording owners and performers. This is completely separate from Songtrust's role: collecting royalties generated by compositions on behalf of songwriters and publishers.” (END) From TheMLC.com website: FAQ “ Generally, if you have an agreement with a publishing administration service, the service will register your works with The MLC and collect your share of royalties on your behalf. Please contact the service you have signed up with directly to confirm registration of your shares of musical works with The MLC. You can also look up your works using our Public Search to confirm that they have been registered and that your publishing administrator has claimed your shares. Please note that if your shares of musical works are not subject to an agreement with a publisher, publishing administrator or publishing administration service and you retain administration rights, your share of these musical works are said to be “self-administered.” You will need to join The MLC as a self-administered songwriter and register your share of the works in order to collect your share of digital mechanical royalties payable by The MLC. Please also keep in mind that some of the companies offering publishing administration services also offer other services such as digital sound recording distribution. Be sure you understand which companies and services you have signed up for.” (END) Good luck with it! Hope you and anyone else who sees this finds this helpful. Lmk if you have any other questions. Remember, You got this! And if you want to see what we can do, email me so I can take a crack at Mixing your song. Love to show you what I can do. Email is: evan.customcutstudios@gmail.com (Other contact info in the description as well. All the best! I don’t want to overload you with info, but checkout this link. This app looks like such a good idea and will likely be the future of collecting money in music. As you can see above it’s soo convoluted with having to sign up everywhere. Would be so much better if it was all in one place. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y7p9bMmgqreuXYU.htmlsi=zrk4PjouSlijUof3

That old school poor man’s copyright method (mailing the sealed envelope with the cd or cassette or lyrics to yourself, anything like this) was thrown out. That is no longer an accepted method that gives you protection under the copyright law. Putting your song on KZfaq, is an act of publishing the song, however, it doesn’t give you protection under the copyright law. Registering the song with the copyright office is the only thing that truly protects you. I believe this may change in the future, as it makes sense for new legislation to allow for official publishing dates on KZfaq or any other major digital platforms to stand as a firm documented date of creation of a musical work. However, at the moment the only way to get the full protection under the copyright law, is to register the work with the copyright office. I would NOT want to be in court hoping a KZfaq video holds up if someone steals one of my songs. Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer. I just understand copyright for music, and the PA form and SR form differences, as I’ve been writing songs and registering them since forever ago.

'Registering the song with the copyright office is the only thing that truly protects you.'@@customcutstudios What if you, like me, don't know how to produce the required sheet music in a professional manner? For all I know an mp3's not enough, or am I wrong? Which copyright office do you use?

@@renevrijenhoek629 There is only one, US copyright office, and that is where you go. There is no reason to use a third party site. Go direct to the government site. Copyright.gov You don’t need to write out any sheet music or lyrics. You upload the mp3 or wave file, I believe they accept either one. The underlying musical and/or lyrical work within that mp3 or wav file is what is being copyrighted with the PA form. This covers the songwriting / publishing end. The SR form is the copyright for the sound recording (the sound recording is another word for that particular master recording, also referred to as “the master”). This covers ownership of that particular sound recording / master. If you are registering both that particular sound recording/master, and the underlying musical and lyrical work, they instruct you to fill out the SR form at the present time. I say at the present time because at some point they could of course change their instructions on which form to use. It’s just important that you follow the instructions on the site and only register what applies to you. For example if you leased a beat, then you wrote and added vocals to it, you didn’t write the music. You wrote the lyrics. So you would only check the box that says you wrote the lyrics. Not the box that says you wrote the lyrics and music. You must fill out the form according to what you actually wrote. Copyrighting something you didn’t do or don’t own is only going to hurt you, and will not give you any protection under copyright. Just because you copyright something doesn’t mean you own it. You must own it in order to copyright it, or you are falsely representing your ownership in the song.

@@customcutstudios Thanks! Much appreciated.