Can You Earn Royalties From Your Own Arrangement of a Public-Domain Carol?

It is carol season. Maybe you have rebuilt an old hymn with new chords, a new bridge and a fresh feel, and a friend asks whether you can collect royalties on it. The short answer is yes, but only for what you added. The carol itself earns nothing.

This guide separates what the old carol earns, what your arrangement can earn, and the three registrations that matter. It is general information, not legal advice.

The carol itself pays nothing

A public-domain song belongs to everyone. The MLC says it does not pay royalties on public-domain works, and that royalties are not allocated or paid to identified public-domain works. Its public search marks them with a blue Public Domain tag. If you are not sure a carol is old enough, start with our guide to public-domain songs.

What the law protects in an arrangement

The Copyright Office lists a musical arrangement as a derivative work, which means a work based on an earlier one. It says copyright in a derivative work covers only the additions, changes or other new material, not the public-domain material underneath. Your arrangement also does not stop anyone else from making their own arrangement of the same carol.

How new is new enough? The Office's Compendium says an arrangement may be registered when sufficient new harmonies or instrumentation are added to a preexisting work. Its examples help.

• Probably not enough: adding only standard chords in common sequences such as C, F, G, C. Handing each line of a four-part choir piece, unchanged, to four brass instruments.
• Enough, in the Office's examples: an orchestration of a piano work, a marching band arrangement of a string quartet, or a hip hop arrangement of a famous pop ballad.
• Also registrable: an adaptation that reworks the melody, rhythm, harmony or lyrics and changes the style of the work, or new music set to an old text. In each case, the registration covers only the new part.

Registering at the Copyright Office

On the application, you list the old music as material excluded and your arrangement as new material included. The Office's own example is a new arrangement of preexisting music for piano: music is excluded, and musical arrangement is the new material. Fees are in our guide to what it costs to copyright a song.

Registration is optional, but it creates a public record of your claim to the new material.

Registering with your PRO

PROs accept arrangements of public-domain works, but they pay them at a reduced rate. Songtrust's help center says such arrangements generate substantially less than an original composition. It says ASCAP registers public-domain works at a relative value of 10%, and that BMI credits copyrighted arrangements of public-domain works at 20% of the typical performance royalty for popular songs.

Each society sets its own rules, so check your PRO's current payment policy before you count on income.

Registering with The MLC

The MLC says you should register a public-domain work only if you created your own unique arrangement. Here is how it asks you to enter one.

• Credit the original writer in the Composer/Author or Composer role. No IPI is needed.
• If the original writer is unknown, enter Public Domain in that role.
• Credit yourself as the Arranger, the role for someone who modifies the musical elements of an existing work. If you changed the words, the Adapter role covers lyrics, and a translation uses the Translator role.
• A work registered as a unique arrangement no longer shows the Public Domain tag.

If the underlying song is still protected, the rules change. The MLC says you can register a derivative work only with authorization from the rightsholders of the underlying work, ideally in writing. Register it with the writers and shares that the agreement sets.

When does an arrangement earn?

Money follows recordings and performances of your arrangement, not of the carol. If you record your arrangement and release it, the composition royalties for your arrangement can reach you through your PRO and The MLC at the shares you registered. The recording income is yours as the artist. If someone else records the carol from their own arrangement, you earn nothing from it.

Protected songs are different

Arranging a song that is still under copyright is another matter. The Compendium notes that an arrangement made under a compulsory mechanical license is not protected as a derivative work without the copyright owner's express consent. For a protected song, get permission in writing first. Our guide to mechanical licenses explains the license.

If you want full credit, write something new

An original song is credited at the full rate, where an arrangement gets a fraction. It can also keep earning every December. Our guide to writing holiday songs that earn every season shows how. Partners keep their copyright and earn 50% of each sale, minus the payment fee. If you write original holiday songs, see how to sell your songs.

A short checklist

• Confirm that the carol's words and music are in the public domain.
• Write down what you changed: new chords, a countermelody, a bridge, new lyrics.
• Save dated drafts and your recording.
• Register the arrangement with the Copyright Office if you want a public record.
• Register it with your PRO and The MLC with yourself as arranger, never as the composer of the carol.
• Credit it the same way when you release it. Our guide to entering songwriter info shows how credits travel.

Sources

• U.S. Copyright Office: Circular 14, Copyright in Derivative Works and Compilations
• U.S. Copyright Office: Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Chapter 800, Works of the Performing Arts
• The MLC Help Center: Can I register a public domain work with The MLC and collect royalties?
• The MLC Help Center: Can I register my derivative work with The MLC and receive royalties?
• The MLC Help Center: What is a writer role?
• Songtrust Help: Can I Register an Arrangement of a Public Domain Song?
• Songtrust Help: Do Public Domain Arrangements Pay the Same Performance Royalties As Original Works?