Performing Arts

 

Step 1
Make sure your work is a performing arts work. Performing arts works are intended to be “performed” directly before an audience or indirectly “by means of any device or process.” Included are (1) musical works, including any accompanying words; (2) dramatic works, such as scripts, including any accompanying music; (3) pantomimes and choreographic works; and (4) motion pictures and other audiovisual works.

Note: Performing arts registration is not the same as registering a sound recording. Read more about choosing the correct registration method. To register sound recordings, see the Sound Recordings instructions. Read more about the registration of musical compositions and sound recordings.

Step 2
Put into one envelope or package

• a completed application Form PA or Short Form PA

[Use short form PA if you are the only author and copyright owner of this work, and the work was not made for hire, and the work is completely new (does not contain a substantial amount of material that has been previously published or registered or is in the public domain), and the work is not a motion picture or other audiovisual work.
Otherwise, use the standard form PA.]

• a $30 payment to "Register of Copyrights."
• nonreturnable copy(ies) of the material to be registered. (Read details on deposit requirements for musical compositions, motion pictures.)
  Collections of music may be registered with one application and fee under certain conditions (read details).

Step 3
Send the package to

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

Please read this important notice about mail delivery disruption.

Your registration becomes effective on the day that the Copyright Office receives your application in good order, payment, and copy(ies). If your application is in order, you will receive a certificate of registration in 4 to 5 months.

For more details, please see Circular 45, Copyright Registration for Motions Pictures Including Video Recordings; Circular 50, Copyright Registration for Musical Compositions; Circular 55, Copyright Registration for Multimedia Works; and other informational circulars.

Library of Congress

U.S. Copyright Office forms used for registering copyright.

For published or unpublished works of the performing arts
Form PA
Form PA with instructions
Form PA Short- Simplified version of Form PA

For published or unpublished sound recordings
Form SR
Form SR with instructions

 

Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings

For copyright purposes, there is a difference between MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS and SOUND RECORDINGS.

A Musical Composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer and the lyricist, if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example, sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example, cassette tape, LP, or CD).

A Sound Recording results from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds. The author of a sound recording is the performer(s) whose performance is fixed, or the record producer who processes the sounds and fixes them in the final recording, or both.

Copyright in a sound recording is not the same as, or a substitute for, copyright in the underlying musical composition.

Registration of a Musical Composition and a Sound Recording with a Single Application
Although they are separate works, a musical composition and a sound recording may be registered together on a single application if ownership of the copyrights in both is exactly the same. To register a single claim in both works, complete Form SR. Give information about the author(s) of both the musical composition and the sound recording.

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