[Dixielandjazz] Questions about copyrighting - Part II

[Kimberly Shaffer]

Thank you for all your responses, hope you can answer more.

What I know [found out] so far:

There are 3 areas that must be legally covered before publication:  
Licensing, Copyright, and Publishing Rights.

Licensing:  For songs for which other people hold the original 
copyright:  a Compulsory Mechanical License must be obtained.  The law 
says that a copyright holder must grant a license (that's why they call 
it compulsory) for others to make a sound recording (the "mechanical" 
part refers to the machinery used to duplicate the sound recording to 
mass media) as long as the original copyright holder is compensated 
according to the Statutory Rate (currently 8.5 cents per copy if the 
song is under 5 minutes, increasing by a fraction thereof for every 
minute longer than 5).  Most of this is handled by the Harry Fox 
Agency, and for limited-pressing (under 2500) releases it can be done 
over the world wide web via their online form.  They charge a $10 
processing fee above and beyond the $85 per 1000 CD pressing, per song.

Copyright:  The songs I've written for the CD are going to be 
registered with the copyright office as PA works.  They are also 
already registered with BMI under my Publisher name, for purposes of 
royalty collection.  Where my question comes in is:  all of the 
arrangements (of songs I didn't write) are unique, and they all contain 
enough original thought ("new material" according to copyright.gov 
legalese) to constitute a "copyrightable derivative work".  Therefore I 
will be copyrighting each new arrangement as well, using Form PA for 
Performing Arts works.  I also plan to copyright the entire album using 
Form SR for Sound Recordings - my question is, is it better to use ONE 
Form SR (and one $30 processing fee) for the entire album, or is it 
better to copyright each arrangement individually each with its own 
Form SR (and each with its own $30 processing fee).  Remember that this 
is in addition to copyrighting the arrangements as PA works using 
multiple copies of Form PA.

Publishing Rights:  Again, no-brainer with the ones I've written 
myself.  They're already registered with BMI and they even have Works 
Registration numbers already.   There is a form at BMI's website 
dealing with registering publishing rights for an arrangement of a 
Public Domain work -- I have also already registered my *unique* 
arrangement of Just a Closer Walk With Thee - it is now officially BMI 
Works Registration Number 007168349.  So there!  BUT:  There doesn't 
appear to be a form to register original arrangements of copyrighted 
works not in the public domain.  My question is:  is there a way I can 
register Derivative Works through BMI so I can get a couple of cents 
when they play it on the radio?

Oh, and FYI:  The "copyright" symbol (Copyright Notice) is no longer 
required to be printed anywhere on the product.  Prior to March 1, 
1989, it was mandatory on all published works, and any work first 
published before this date should carry the notice -- but works 
published after March 1, 1989, use of the Copyright Notice is optional. 
  Good to know.  Of course this assumes that the work still be 
registered with the Copyright Office, and failure to use the symbol may 
necessitate enforcing the claim with legal representation later on when 
someone incorrectly assumes the work is in the public domain, but 
according to copyright.gov the symbol isn't necessary anymore.