Every song you've ever heard is actually two copyrighted works stacked on top of each other, and until you see that, none of the fees make sense.
There's the musical composition — the melody, the chords as written, the lyrics. That copyright belongs to the songwriter. And there's the sound recording — the specific recorded performance, the "master." That one typically belongs to whoever made or paid for the recording. When Whitney Houston sang "I Will Always Love You," the composition copyright sat with Dolly Parton; the recording copyright didn't. Same song playing on the radio, two owners, two revenue streams.
For an independent artist who writes and records their own material, you usually own both. But the Copyright Office still thinks in these two categories, and your registrations should too.
The Price List
- $45 — Single Application: one song, one author who owns everything, not a work for hire.
- $65 — Standard Application: co-writers, band-owned masters, producer splits — any shared ownership.
- $85 — Group of Unpublished Works: up to ten unpublished songs, one fee. If you're sitting on a batch of demos, this is the single best value in the entire copyright system — $8.50 a song.
Two more worth knowing: if the same claimant owns both the recording and the underlying composition, a single sound-recording application can often register both at once — one fee, both copyrights. And for released albums, a separate group option lets you register multiple tracks from the same album together. Between the group options, a working musician rarely needs to pay per-song.
When the Fee Starts Mattering
Like every copyrightable work, your song is protected automatically the moment it's fixed — recorded on your phone, written on a napkin. What registration buys is teeth: the ability to file suit at all (for US works), and — if you register before an infringement or within three months of release — statutory damages up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement, plus attorney's fees.
For musicians this matters more than for almost anyone else, because music infringement is usually death by a thousand streams. Actual damages from an unauthorized use might be $200 — unlitigable. Statutory damages make small infringements worth pursuing, which is what makes them stop. Register the composition and the recording: in a dispute, they're infringed separately and compensated separately.
The Envelope in the Drawer
The "poor man's copyright" — mail the song to yourself, keep the sealed envelope — refuses to die, so let's be precise about what it does: nothing that matters. It doesn't enable a lawsuit, doesn't unlock statutory damages, and barely even proves the date (envelopes can be steamed, unsealed ones mailed empty). Courts don't care about your postmark. It's the same folk-legal thinking as the "poor man's trademark", and it fails for the same reason: the benefits come from the government record, and there's no shortcut into the record. The $45–$85 is the shortcut.
What Your Copyright Fee Doesn't Protect
Your name. "Copyrighting my band name" is not a thing — names, titles, and short phrases sit outside copyright entirely. Your artist name, band name, and logo live in trademark law, with its own filing, its own fees, and its own brutal first-come dynamics. Plenty of artists have registered every song meticulously and then lost their own name. The song fee and the name filing are two different insurance policies; you probably want both.
A Sensible Order of Operations
Unreleased material: batch up to ten unpublished songs into an $85 group filing before release. On release day (or within the three-month window): make sure the released versions — composition and master — are covered. Growing an audience under a name you'd hate to lose: start the trademark conversation. Total cost to put real legal teeth behind a debut EP: usually well under $200. The industry's cheapest insurance, bought at the moment your music is worth the least — which is exactly when it's cheapest to protect everything it might become.
FAQ
How much does it cost to copyright one song?
$45–$65 through the U.S. Copyright Office, depending on whether one person owns everything ($45) or ownership is shared ($65). A recorded song contains two copyrights — composition and recording — which can often be registered together when the same person owns both.
Can I copyright multiple songs at once?
Yes. The Group of Unpublished Works option covers up to ten unpublished songs by the same author for one $85 fee, and a separate group option exists for tracks released on the same album.
Does mailing my song to myself copyright it?
No. The song is already copyrighted automatically when recorded or written down — and the sealed envelope adds nothing enforceable. Only registration enables lawsuits and statutory damages.