How to Register Your Music: PROs, Copyright Office, and ISRC Codes

Copyright Basics: What You Already Own

The most important thing to understand about music copyright is that registration is not required to own it. Under US copyright law, as soon as you create an original musical work and fix it in a tangible form — write it down or record it — you automatically own the copyright. This has been true since the Copyright Act of 1976, which eliminated the previous requirement to formally register or mark works with a copyright notice.

What registration does is provide a significant legal advantage if you ever need to enforce your copyright. Specifically: if you register your work with the US Copyright Office before an infringement occurs (or within three months of the work's publication), you are entitled to sue for statutory damages of up to $150,000 per willful infringement, plus attorney's fees. Without registration, you can only sue for actual damages — which may be very difficult to prove and quantify, and which may not cover the cost of litigation. Registration also creates a public record of your ownership, which can help resolve disputes without litigation.

There are two types of copyrights relevant to musicians: the composition copyright (covering the underlying song — melody, harmony, and lyrics) and the sound recording copyright (covering the specific recorded version). If you write a song and record it yourself, you own both copyrights. If someone else records your song, they own the master of their recording but you retain the composition copyright. Understanding which rights you hold in any given situation determines what you need to register and where.

Registering with the US Copyright Office

Copyright registration is done through the US Copyright Office at copyright.gov. Online registration costs $45 for a single work or a collection of unpublished works on a single application, making group registration an economical approach for producers who accumulate tracks. Paper applications cost $65. The processing time for online applications is typically several months, though expedited processing is available for an additional fee when you have an imminent legal need.

What to Register

You can register the composition (the song), the sound recording (the master), or both together if you wrote and recorded the work yourself. For most independent artists who write their own music and own their masters, registering both together on a single application (Form SR — Sound Recording) is the most efficient approach. If you're a songwriter who doesn't own the masters, register only the composition (Form PA — Performing Arts).

Unpublished works can be registered as a collection on a single application. A practical approach for many producers is to register batches of new music periodically — perhaps every three to six months — rather than registering every individual track immediately. This keeps costs manageable while ensuring coverage before works are widely distributed.

The Registration Process

Registration at copyright.gov involves creating an account, completing the online application form (title, year of creation, claimant information, nature of work), paying the registration fee, and uploading a deposit copy of the work. For sound recordings, the deposit is an audio file or physical copy of the recording. For compositions, the deposit can be a lead sheet (written notation of the melody and lyrics) or a recording. The Copyright Office will issue a registration certificate by mail once processing is complete. Keep this certificate — it is your formal legal documentation of registered ownership.

Performing Rights Organizations (PROs)

A Performing Rights Organization (PRO) is an organization that collects performance royalties on behalf of songwriters and publishers. Performance royalties are generated when your composition is performed publicly — played on terrestrial radio, broadcast on television, streamed on digital platforms (the performance royalty component), played in bars, restaurants, gyms, or retail stores, or performed live at venues. These royalties are paid by businesses that use music publicly, who pay licensing fees to PROs, which then distribute the collected money to affiliated songwriters and publishers.

The three major PROs in the United States are ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), and SESAC (the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers). SESAC is invitation-only, so most independent artists choose between ASCAP and BMI.

ASCAP vs BMI

ASCAP charges a one-time $50 membership fee for songwriters and operates as a membership organization owned by its members. BMI is free to join and operates as a corporation. Both collect and distribute performance royalties, both have extensive international affiliate networks, and both have broadly similar royalty rates — though the specific amounts vary by the type of performance, the platform, and the reporting accuracy of the licensee.

Practical considerations when choosing: if your co-writers or publishers are primarily affiliated with one PRO, joining the same PRO can streamline royalty accounting. If you're releasing music in genres where one PRO has historically strong relationships (country music has historically had strong ASCAP and BMI representation; certain classical and theatrical communities favor ASCAP), that may influence your decision. Most independent artists who are starting out choose BMI primarily to avoid the $50 fee, and this is a perfectly reasonable decision — neither PRO is significantly superior for independent artists at the early career stage.

Registering Your Songs with Your PRO

Joining a PRO registers you as a member, but you must also register each individual song in the PRO's database for performance royalties to be tracked and paid to you. Both ASCAP and BMI have online portals where you log in and add your songs with their metadata: title, writer shares (who wrote what percentage), publisher information, and ISRC codes for recordings. This registration step is separate from joining and is required before royalties can be collected. Register your songs as soon as they are released or performed publicly.

International Coverage

Both ASCAP and BMI have reciprocal agreements with performing rights organizations in virtually every country worldwide. When your music generates performance royalties in the UK (through PRS for Music), Germany (through GEMA), Japan (through JASRAC), or any other country with a functioning PRO system, those royalties flow back to your US PRO and are distributed to you. You do not need to register separately in each country — your US PRO membership handles international collection through these reciprocal agreements.

Mechanical Royalties and the MLC

Mechanical royalties are a separate category from performance royalties. They are generated when your composition is reproduced — historically, this meant the physical pressing of records, CDs, or tapes. In the streaming era, mechanical royalties are generated by on-demand audio streams (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, etc.) and permanent digital downloads.

In the United States, mechanical royalties from streaming are collected and distributed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), established under the Music Modernization Act of 2018. The MLC is the legally designated collective for administering mechanical royalties from digital music services. Registration with the MLC at themlc.com is free and is separate from your PRO membership.

To claim your mechanical royalties, register on the MLC website and add your works. You'll need song titles, writer information, and ISRC codes for your recordings. The MLC matches registered compositions to streaming data from digital services and distributes royalties accordingly. Unmatched royalties — money collected for compositions that haven't been claimed in the system — are held until claimed or until they are distributed to registered publishers according to market share formulas. Registering early ensures you don't leave money unclaimed.

If you use a publishing administrator like Songtrust or DistroKid's Publishing, they typically handle MLC registration on your behalf. However, understanding that the MLC exists and that mechanical royalties are a separate income stream from performance royalties is important regardless of whether you self-administer or use an administrator.

ISRC Codes: Identifying Your Recordings

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is a unique 12-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to a specific sound recording. It is the primary mechanism used by streaming services, broadcasters, and collection societies to identify which specific recording of a song is being played and to direct royalty payments to the correct rights holders. Every track you distribute digitally should have an ISRC.

ISRCs identify recordings, not compositions. If the same song exists as three different recordings — the original studio version, an acoustic version, and a live version — each recording has its own unique ISRC. The composition has its own separate identifiers in PRO databases (the ISWC — International Standard Musical Work Code).

How to Get ISRCs

The most common and simplest way to obtain ISRCs is through your music distributor. DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, and virtually all major digital distributors assign ISRCs to your tracks automatically as part of the distribution process. These ISRCs are yours permanently — even if you later switch distributors, the ISRCs assigned by your original distributor remain attached to those specific recordings.

Alternatively, you can obtain ISRCs directly through USISRC.org (the US ISRC agency). Direct registration involves a one-time fee for a registrant code (the first segment of your ISRCs), after which you can self-assign ISRCs to an unlimited number of recordings. Direct registration is most practical for labels, publishers, or high-volume artists who need ISRCs before distribution or who want to maintain direct control of their recording metadata.

Why ISRCs Matter for Royalties

Without an ISRC, streaming platforms cannot reliably match a play to the correct rights holder for payment purposes. Royalties may go unpaid or be misattributed. When you register your recordings with SoundExchange (which collects digital performance royalties for sound recordings played on internet radio and satellite radio), you use ISRCs to identify your recordings in the system. When streaming mechanical royalties are tracked by the MLC, ISRCs are the linking identifier. Proper ISRC assignment is the foundation of digital royalty collection — without it, money can fall through the cracks.

SoundExchange: Digital Performance Royalties for Recordings

SoundExchange is a separate collection organization that most independent artists are unaware of — and as a result, leave significant money uncollected. SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties specifically for sound recordings (masters), not compositions. These royalties are generated when your recording plays on non-interactive digital platforms: internet radio (Pandora, iHeart Radio), satellite radio (SiriusXM), and cable/satellite TV music channels.

These are distinct from the performance royalties your PRO collects (which cover composition royalties from the same plays) and from streaming mechanicals (which cover on-demand streaming). Registration with SoundExchange is free at soundexchange.com. If your music is being played on internet or satellite radio, SoundExchange is holding royalties for you — but you must claim them by registering.

Publishing Administration: Managing Your Composition Rights

Publishing administration refers to the management of your composition copyrights — registering songs with PROs and collection societies, issuing licenses, collecting and processing royalties, and pitching your songs for film, TV, and commercial licensing. Traditionally, musicians signed with publishers who handled all of this in exchange for 50% of publishing income. Independent artists can now self-administer or use a publishing administrator for a much smaller share.

Publishing administrators like Songtrust, DistroKid Publishing, Amuse, and CD Baby Pro register your songs with PROs and international collection societies, collect royalties on your behalf from multiple sources globally, and pass through the collected royalties minus a flat fee or small percentage (typically 10–15%, compared to a traditional publisher's 50%). For most independent artists releasing music digitally, using a publishing administrator is a cost-effective way to ensure global mechanical and performance royalty collection without giving up 50% of income.

The practical choice between self-administration and using a publishing administrator depends on your volume of releases and how much time you want to spend on rights management. If you release a modest number of tracks per year and are comfortable logging into the MLC, your PRO portal, and SoundExchange regularly to manage registrations, self-administration is viable. If you release frequently or want a more hands-off approach to royalty collection, a publishing administrator streamlines the process significantly.

Complete Registration Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions