How to Copyright a Song

Your song is protected the moment you fix it in a tangible form. Registration is a separate, voluntary filing, and for a U.S. work the Copyright Office must act on it before you can sue. Online fees run $45 for a narrowly eligible Single Application, $65 standard, and $85 for a group of unpublished works.

There is a persistent myth that you have to "copyright" a song before it is protected. You do not. Copyright is automatic. Registration is the separate filing that gives that automatic copyright legal teeth.

Search "how to copyright a song" and most results give you one price. The Copyright Office has several, and the cheapest one is the one most artists do not qualify for. Choosing wrong costs you the fee and pushes your registration date later.

Music Copyright Basics covers the wider law: the musical-work copyright and the separate sound-recording copyright that can arise when a song is recorded, ownership, fair use, and how deals move rights around. This page covers the filing itself. How to Register a Song walks the whole route step by step, including the PRO, MLC, and SoundExchange filings that sit alongside it. Every fee and processing figure below was checked against copyright.gov and 37 CFR 201.3 in August 2026.

What You Already Have (Without Doing Anything)

The moment you record a voice memo of a melody, type lyrics into your phone, or save a session in your DAW, protection attaches. The Copyright Office states that copyright protection in the United States exists automatically from the moment the original work of authorship is fixed.

You do not need the copyright symbol. Notice has not been required on works published in the United States since March 1, 1989, though it still carries practical benefits. You do not need to file paperwork either, and mailing yourself a copy (the "poor man's copyright") is not a substitute for registration.

What automatic copyright gives you:

• Ownership of the work from the moment it is fixed

• Exclusive rights vary by work type: a musical work includes public-performance and public-display rights, while a sound recording has no public-display right and has a narrower public-performance right for digital audio transmissions

• The right to prepare derivative works

• The right to license any of those rights to someone else

What automatic copyright does not give you:

• The ability to file an infringement suit over a U.S. work, because the Office has to act on your application first

• Eligibility for statutory damages, attorney's fees, and costs

• Prima facie evidence of validity, which registration supplies when made before or within five years of publication

• A dated public record of your ownership claim

That second list is why registration matters.

When Registration Matters

Someone uses your song without permission. For a U.S. work, the Copyright Office generally has to approve or refuse your application before you can file an infringement suit in federal court. While the application is pending, other routes can include a cease-and-desist letter, an applicable DMCA takedown notice, or a Copyright Claims Board claim after submitting a registration application.

You want the stronger remedies. Registration before infringement begins generally preserves eligibility for statutory damages and attorneys' fees. For infringement that begins after first publication, registration within three months of publication can preserve those remedies. Statutory damages in federal court generally run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and a court may award up to $150,000 per work where it finds the infringement willful. Without timely registration, you are usually left proving actual damages and the infringer's profits.

A dispute over ownership arises. A registration certificate is a dated public record of your claim. When registration is made before or within five years of first publication, it is prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

You want to license commercially. Sync supervisors, publishers, and labels sometimes ask for proof of registration before signing a licensing agreement.

How to Register a Song with the US Copyright Office

You file online at copyright.gov. The steps are the same whichever application you pick. The choice of application is what changes the fee.

Step-by-Step

1. Create a free account in the Copyright Office electronic registration system.

2. Start a new registration and choose the application that fits your situation.

3. Enter the title, the author or authors, and the year the work was completed.

4. Describe the authorship you are claiming: music, lyrics, or both, plus the sound recording if you are registering that too.

5. Name the claimant, meaning the person or company that owns the copyright. Author and claimant are separate fields.

6. Submit the required deposit: upload the work when an electronic deposit is permitted, or mail the required physical copy or copies when the Office's rules require them.

7. Pay the filing fee.

8. Submit.

Your effective date of registration is the day the Office has an acceptable application, an acceptable deposit, and the fee all in hand. It is not the day the Office mails the certificate.

What Each Filing Costs

Those figures come from the Copyright Office fee schedule and 37 CFR 201.3, checked in August 2026. Filing fees are nonrefundable and the Office revises them periodically, so confirm the amount inside the application before you pay.

The $45 Trap

The Single Application is the cheapest route and the narrowest. The Office limits it to one work created by one individual, where all the material in the work and in the deposit is by that same individual, and where that individual is also the sole owner and the named claimant. It cannot be a work made for hire and it cannot be a joint work. Most sound recordings are not eligible for it at all.

So a song you wrote alone, words and music, can go through at $45. The same song with a co-writer cannot, and in most cases neither can the master. File a Single Application for a claim that does not qualify and the Office refuses the registration. You then submit a new claim on the Standard Application and pay the full standard fee, which moves your effective registration date later.

How Long It Takes

For cases closed between October 2025 and March 2026, the Copyright Office reports an average of 4.1 months across all claims. Online applications with an uploaded digital deposit and no examiner questions averaged 3.6 months, ranging from 2 to 5.3 months. Claims where the Office had to write to the applicant averaged 5.0 months, and the Office corresponded on about 27 percent of claims.

The Office notes that the lapse in appropriations from October 1 to November 12, 2025 pushed those averages up and expects them to come back down. If you have a qualifying compelling reason, you can request special handling for an additional $800; approval is discretionary, and the Office attempts, but does not guarantee, examination within five working days after approval.

The Two Copyrights: What You Are Registering

Every recorded song usually involves two copyrights, and you can register both.

The composition copyright covers the song as written: melody, lyrics, arrangement. If you co-wrote it, ownership follows what you agreed on the split sheet.

The sound recording copyright covers that particular recorded performance. If you paid for and directed the recording, you usually own the master. If a label or producer funded it, ownership follows the agreement.

When the same claimant owns both copyrights and the works are embodied in the same phonorecord, one Standard Application can register both for $65. A sole individual may instead qualify for the $45 Single Application when that person is the only performer and the only copyright owner of both works. Where different parties own the two copyrights, they require separate applications.

For the complete breakdown of how these two copyrights affect your income and licensing, see Music Copyright Basics.

Registering a Whole Album

Filing an album one track at a time at $65 each is the expensive way to do it. Two group options cost less, and which one applies turns on whether the songs are published.

GRUW requires every work in the group to be unpublished, all created by the same author or the same joint authors, with those authors named as claimants. A narrow exception lets you cover up to ten unpublished sound recordings together with the musical works embodied in them, when both are unpublished and the authors and claimants match.

GRAM works the other way. Every work has to be published, generally first published on the same album on the same date, sharing the same author or a common joint author, with the same claimant or co-claimants across the group. Musical works and sound recordings go on separate GRAM applications, so an album where you own both copyrights is two filings at $65 each.

Common Mistakes

Waiting until a problem shows up. Registration before infringement begins generally preserves eligibility for statutory damages and attorneys' fees. For infringement that begins after first publication, registration within three months of publication can preserve those remedies. Registering after you discover infringement usually leaves you proving actual damages and the infringer's profits in federal court.

Assuming the $45 rate applies to you. It covers one work by one author who is also the sole owner and claimant, not made for hire and not co-written, and most sound recordings are excluded. Using it when you do not qualify means a refusal, a second filing at the standard fee, and a later effective date.

Not registering co-written songs. Document the split on a split sheet first, then register. Sorting authorship out after filing can mean a supplementary registration.

Confusing platform credits with legal registration. Being listed as a songwriter on Spotify or Apple Music is metadata for streaming platforms. It is not a copyright registration, and neither is a PRO affiliation.

Skipping registration on cost. If the works meet the applicable group option's eligibility rules, up to ten qualifying published musical works on the same album can use one $65 GRAM filing; before publication, up to ten qualifying unpublished works can use one $85 GRUW filing.

Artists and their teams can keep release metadata like UPCs and ISRCs next to track records and project details, so the identifiers a filing asks for are not spread across four different apps. Orphiq does not file registrations for you.

For the broader business foundation every artist needs, including legal structure, taxes, and contracts, see Music Business Essentials. For how the different license types work once your song is registered, see Music Licensing Types Explained.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to copyright a song?

Nothing. Copyright attaches when you fix the song. Registering it online costs $45 on the narrowly eligible Single Application, $65 on the Standard Application, $85 for a group of unpublished works, or $65 for a group of album works.

Does registering with ASCAP or BMI copyright my song?

No. A PRO registration records you as a writer so performance royalties can be matched and paid. It does not create a Copyright Office registration. They are separate filings with separate purposes.

Can I copyright a beat or instrumental?

Yes. An original instrumental qualifies as a musical work and registers the same way. If you also own the recording of it, one Standard Application can cover the composition and the sound recording together. A sole individual may instead qualify for the $45 Single Application when that person is the only performer and the only copyright owner of both works.

How long does copyright protection last?

For a work created on or after January 1, 1978 and authored by an identified individual, protection generally lasts for the author's life plus 70 years; for a joint work, it generally lasts until 70 years after the last surviving author dies. Works made for hire and anonymous or pseudonymous works use different term rules.

Read Next

• How to Register a Song: Copyright Office and PROs

• Music Copyright Basics

• Split Sheets: Why You Need Them

• Music Licensing Types Explained

• Music Business Essentials

Orphiq holds your projects, track records, and release metadata in one place, so the identifiers a filing asks for sit where the release plan already lives. The filing itself is still yours to make.