What to Put in the P Line and C Line When You Release a Licensed Song

Near the end of every upload form there are two small boxes: the P line and the C line. When you release a song someone else wrote, they are easy to fill in wrongly.

The short answer: the P line is about your recording, and the C line is about whatever your distributor says it is about. Here is how to fill in both.

What the two lines are

A P line is a copyright notice for a sound recording. The U.S. Copyright Office says a notice has three parts: the symbol ℗ for recordings, the year of first publication and the name of the owner, as in ℗ 2026 Your Name. You do not need the Office's permission or a registration to use a notice, and for works published on or after March 1, 1989, a notice is optional. The Office lists benefits of using one, including that it may stop an infringer from claiming innocent infringement to limit damages. Distributors still ask for the line.

The C line is where it gets confusing, because distributors define it differently. RouteNote's help center calls it the line for the composition copyright holder. Record Union's help page says © refers to the owner of the cover art, the track order and the other things that make up the release. The Arts Law Centre of Australia describes © as ownership of the music and lyrics. Read the help text beside your own form before you type anything.

Some forms fill the lines in for you. Record Union's help page says its copyright fields are filled from the label name you enter, or from your artist name if you enter none, and it asks you to contact support if neither you nor your label owns the recording. Check what the form filled in before you submit.

Your P line: you, with the year of release

Once you hold the license, the recording you make is a work of its own, separate from the song. Our guide to copyrighting your recording of a licensed song explains why. So the P line names you, or your company's full name if you release through one: ℗ 2026 Your Name.

Use the year the recording is first released to the public. If anyone else helped make the recording, such as a producer, an engineer or a session player, the paperwork you signed with them decides who is named, as our guide to who owns your recording explains. If a label releases your recording, ask the label what the line should say. RouteNote says the line should name the owner of the recording by its full company name.

Your C line: follow what the form says it is for

There are three cases.

• The form says the C line is for the composition or the music. Enter the songwriters exactly as your license certificate spells them. Do not enter yourself, because you did not write the song. RouteNote's own example for a cover song puts the performer in the P line and the original songwriter in the C line.
• The form says it is for the artwork or the release. Enter whoever owns that, which may be you or the designer. The songwriters then go in the songwriter and composer fields, as our guide to entering songwriter info in your distributor shows.
• You cannot tell. Ask your distributor's support before you submit. It is a short question, and the answer will save you a correction later.

Where "under exclusive license" does and does not go

If you hold an exclusive license to a song, you may be tempted to write "under exclusive license" into one of these lines. Leave it out. That license is about the song, and neither line is for it. Your proof is the license certificate, which names the writers and can be checked at /verify. Keep it with your receipt.

The phrase belongs in a P line only when the owner of a recording has licensed that recording to a label, as in ℗ 2026 Owner under exclusive license to Label. Even then some distributors do not want it in the field. RouteNote's help page lists a line with that wording as incorrect and says to enter only the label's name. If a label is involved, ask it how it wants the line to read.

Mistakes to avoid

• Entering your own name as the owner of a song you licensed, when the field means the composition.
• Copying a line from another release. Each release has its own owner and year.
• Spelling a writer's name differently from the certificate.
• Using a nickname where the form wants the legal owner's name.
• Waiting until after release to check. Spotify says it shows the metadata a label or distributor sends and cannot change it by hand, so a fix means asking your distributor to send an update.

A short example

Maya licenses a song written by two writers, records it and releases it herself. Her distributor's help text says the C line is for the composition. She enters ℗ 2026 Maya as the P line and, in the C line, the two writers, spelled as on her certificate. She lists them again as composer and lyricist in the songwriter fields, takes a screenshot of the finished form and saves it with her certificate and receipt. Maya is made up, but the steps follow the sources below.

Check before you submit

• P line: you or your company, with the year of first release.
• C line: matches what your form says it is for.
• Writers: spelled as on the certificate.
• No "under exclusive license" wording unless a label asks for it.
• A screenshot saved with your certificate and receipt.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a label deal or a recording owned with others, ask a music attorney. If you have not chosen a song yet, you can browse songs for artists and hear them in different styles first.

Sources

• U.S. Copyright Office: Title 17, Chapter 4, Copyright Notice, Deposit, and Registration (Section 402)
• U.S. Copyright Office: Circular 3, Copyright Notice
• RouteNote Support: What is the difference between the P line and C line?
• RouteNote: What do the P Line and C Line mean in music copyright?
• RouteNote Support: Learn your lines to get them right on the night (C line and P line)
• Record Union Help: Adding copyright information
• Spotify for Artists Support: Fixing problems with music
• Arts Law Centre of Australia: Master Recording Licence Fact Sheet