Q: Do I have complete ownership of lyrics to have anyone I choose to write the music?
I wrote lyrics and someone else wrote the music to create a song. She is recording her composition with her band and sending me the audio. If another musician is interested in composing a different musical arrangement for the lyrics do I need the permission of the first musician to do so? I have applied for copyright of the lyrics through US Copyright Office.
A: The author of lyrics automatically gains copyright protection under US copyright laws. The author can register that copyright to get added protection against infringement. The composer who does the music also gains copyright protection in the musical composition. So a song has 2 copyrights. When the song is recorded, the person creating the sound recording also gains a copyright in the recording. Three different people can own copyrights in a recorded song. The author's copyright in the lyrics gives the author the right to say who does and who doesn't get to use, record, and perform those lyrics. Here is more information from the US Copyright Office: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
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