Appendix A. Your Rights as a Composer and Copyrights

Any musical piece (for example, a song) you make in FL Studio comprises the following: the master recording and the song (the song can be considered the music). If you understand that, you can understand the entire songwriting industry. Your musical production (song) in FL Studio is made up of the master recording (sometimes referred to as masters) as well as the music in the song. The music/song is owned by you alone if you made the harmonies that embody the song. Otherwise, it can be split 50-50 with a lyricist because, inside a song, the music is 50 percent and the lyrics are 50 percent. If there is more than one lyricist that created original lyrics for the song, that portion may be split by two lyricists. In that scenario, the music is 50 percent and the lyrics would be divided into 25 percent each. That would represent an even split; there are many cases where it may not be exactly even. It is purely based on business and negotiations.

Tip

There are many situations that arise with regard to who created what and what stake they have. The best thing to do is to communicate, agree, and document how the song rights are allocated.

The music is the notes or the sequencing of the Piano roll in FL Studio, and may or may not include lyrics. The master recording is the entire production transcribed onto a physical medium.

If you sell music to a film production company, they will be buying the master recording as well as the music. The master recording is the master use license and music is the synchronization license. The synchronization, meaning the music inside the song that is synched with visual images, is also your clout as a songwriter and part of your publishing income.

The music within a song is also the entity that can be used to create cover versions (those who choose to make and distribute covers must pay a fee to the original songwriter).

If you single-handedly create your own original song in a fixed, tangible form, you are instantaneously the copyright owner, composer, and publisher of your work. This is an amazing thing that the US government recognizes. To be safe, you will also want to officially copyright your music productions with the US government so they have it on record. In the US, you may use the website www.copyright.gov and enter into their online eCO portal, which allows you to register, pay, and upload songs directly online. A cool thing about copyrighting a batch of songs is that there is only one payment needed for a group of songs. Knowing this, it may be wise to get as much material as you can together in order to copyright it all at once. If you want to use paper forms, you can use the form SR for sound recordings and mail in the works you want to copyright along with your payment and physical CD.

A copyright means that you have exclusive rights to use and distribute your work for a limited amount of time in order to make money. If anyone infringes on those rights, you can take them to court. This is your song, your idea (transcribed onto a physical medium or device like a CD), and your intellectual property.

When registering, the US government will want to know the type of work (usually sound recording and music), application title, title, copyright claimant, date of creation, date of publication, nation of first publication, and authorship on application. The authorship allows you to specify if you are the creator of the sound recording, performance, production, music, and lyrics. You can always resubmit a copyright claim when new people in your network seize different parts of the song.