Song Registration Checklist

[LaJohn "Smooth D." Manoy]

Song Status – Music Business Administration 2011

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Song Registration Checklist

Song Status is proud to be one of the first music business administration companies to provide independent artists, songwriters, producers, labels, publishers, managers and other industry personnel the exact information on properly registering their works. The following registrations are normally needed to completely protect your work and ensure payment of all applicable royalties in connection with a song/album/ringtone/music video (if for sale).

Copyright Form PA (Performing Arts) – Protects your composition (lyrics, music or the combination of both as a single work). This is usually owned by the Music Publisher(s) or indie artist/group.

Copyright Form SR (Sound Recording) – Protects your sound recording (the actual in-studio recording or live taping of the composition). This is usually owned by the record label or the indie artist/group.

Song Split Sheet (Track Info Sheet) – Form filled out prior, during or immediately after creating a song or conducting a recording session that outlines the creators/owners of the song including their affiliations/percentages/rights to said song. This may be the most important document in the music business.

ISRC Codes – International identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which can be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments. All versions of songs (instr, acapella, edit, album, etc.) need to have its own ISRC code.

ID3 Tags - is a metadata container most often used in conjunction with the MP3 audio file format. It allows information such as the title, artist, album, track number, and other information about the file to be stored in the file itself.

Performing Rights Orgs (BMI/ASCAP/SESAC) - provide intermediary functions, particularly royalty collection, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly such as shopping and dining venues. P.R.O.’s are the organizations that pay royalties on radio airplay. You must be affiliated/registered with one to collect royalties as a songwriter, publisher or both. BMI now has “BMI Live” which pays writers who perform their material.

Sound Exchange - collects royalties on the behalf of sound recording copyright owners (SRCOs — record labels, generally) and featured artists for non-interactive digital transmissions, including satellite and Internet radio.

Nielsen BDS - service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections.

Mediabase - music industry website containing in-depth charts and analysis based on the monitoring of 1,836 radio stations in the US and Canada, in 175 radio markets. Mediabase features real-time charts in 25 radio formats, based on radio airplay. In addition, its services have dozens of analytical tools. Mediabase also owns and operates ratethemusic.com, a service that allows consumers to rate music for the radio and record industries.

All Media/Music Guide - large database of metadata about movies, video games, audio books, and music releases. These databases are used for point of sale systems in tens of thousands of stores globally, for CD and DVD recognition in software media players such as Windows Media Player, SimpleCenter and Musicmatch Jukebox, and for providing content for a variety of websites.

Big Champagne - web site used primarily by entertainment industry professionals, major brands and their advertising agencies, and Wall Street analysts to access information about the popularity of music, film, and television as it is distributed and sold. Big Champagne’s sources for data include retail accounts (point of sale), traditional radio and television broadcasters, internet radio broadcasters, internet on-demand streaming services, social networks and blogs, mobile device streaming and downloading services, as well as file sharing networks.

Nielsen SoundScan - information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. Data is collected weekly and made available every Wednesday to subscribers, which include executives from all facets of record companies, publishing firms, music retailers, independent promoters, film and TV, and artist management. SoundScan is the sales source for the Billboard music charts, making it the official source of sales records in the music industry.

Nielsen RingScan - weekly point-of-sale tracking service of ringtones and is offered by Nielsen Mobile, a division of a Nielsen Entertainment. RingScan currently reports on polyphonic, master and voice ringtones and will expand to include ringbacks and other types of ringtones. RingScan is utilized as the source material for Billboard Magazine's weekly ringtone charts.

GS1 US Barcodes - barcode symbology (i.e., a specific type of barcode), that is widely used in Canada and the United States for tracking trade items in stores. Ex. Cds, merchandise, etc.

In addition to registering your songs with the above-mentioned companies you will first need to make sure you have completed the following contracts: production agreement, publishing agreement, mechanical license and if applicable band-group partnership, recording agreement. It is also advised to create/file a DBA’s, bank account(s), Tax ID #’s for each of your separate business endeavors or combine them all under your business name.

Song Status is available to help with the completion of any and all of these services. “Healthy knowledge is Wealthy Profits” and Good business is Good luck.