Q: Can I copyright more than one song per copyright form to save money and how?

A: Yes. You can do this and its called a "collection". To do this you need Copyright Form CON and either copyright form CA, PA, SE, TX, VA, or SR. Most musicians will be using either Form PA or Form SR. I will use Form PA and lyrics only for this example. Say you have written the lyrics to 20 songs not yet recorded and you don't want to spend $20 each copyrighting each set of lyrics. You can call them a "collection" give them a collective title like "My Songs Collection One". This is what you will enter on Copyright Form PA in the "title" area of the form. Then proceed to fill out the form as you normally would. Then you get the Form CON and fill it out, where it asks for title you repeat what you listed on Form PA. Then on the back of the Form CON you check off Space 1 and then in the large blank area type or write all twenty song titles in the collection. Then proceed to finish the form.

Then you take and type or print neatly all 20 songs lyrics on separate sheets of paper number the pages and list at the bottom of each page for example "Page 1 of 20 in My Songs Collection One" (this helps the copyright office keep things straight.). Then you attach everything together neatly in a folder with your $20 check and mail it off as instructed on the forms. You should receive your registration in the mail to the address you listed on the forms within about 4 months. If you end up getting a single song publishing contract later on and need to pull one of those 20 away from the collection then you use Form CA to do this. Its very simple to do and saves you many headaches. If you don't do this there can be a big problem. By that time you may be making enough money to copyright each song separately but most songwriters and bands in the beginning have to cut corners any way they can. The "collection" form of registration greatly helps many artists. You can also do this with sound recordings Form SR etc.

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