ASCAP Questions

I'm sure some folks on here on ASCAP members, anybody game to answer some questions for me, if you can?

Sure, fire away.

I just registered a bunch of songs for my band (all four members are both writers and publishers), and I'm curious how ASCAP goes about identifying registered songs?

I've heard following but can't confirm it:

1. when a radio station licenses a song, they receive a specially encoded version of the song, so that each time the track is played through automated systems, the system keeps track and reports back to ASCAP/BMI/Etc.

2. Also, that at CD mastering time, the artist is expected to add this "special code", embedded somehow in the CD (or probably the master)?

got a ton more...

1.Radio Stations have to turn in playlists to ASCAP/BMI/SESAC. They don't license the song, they can play whatever they want, but it has to be reported. Same with TV and film.

2.You're talking about ISRC codes. Most commercial releases have them but they're not essential for performance. They are for identifying ownership of the master recording.

I'm an ASCAP publisher, what ya need?

Thanks Fezz! Sounds like #2 might not exactly be relevant in the digital age, though maybe when publishing CDs on a large enough scale.

Next questions:

We registered each song with each 4 writers & 4 publishers, with writers getting 50% and publishers getting 50%. Is this trypically the best way for a "band" who writes together to register material?

We've "published" our first EP (500 copies as well as digital distribution) which contains 5 of the 10 songs that we've registered. So how would we copyright the remaining material? Do we have to submit each cong to the Copyright office (seems expensive)?

Registering with the LOC is not manditory, but it's the best way to defend your copyright, which is in effect once you have a tangible copy of the work. And the digital age is what brought us embeddable ISRC codes. In case your master is ever licensed to a compilation, it's the way you identify it as your master. Than way you can make sure that if the track is ever sub-licensed, you get the dough. The music business is a shady place. You have to keep an eye out and protect your work in every way possible.

that is the plan, thanks Fezz!

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