Licensing Basics
Registering a Licensed Song: Who Registers What
By the Starchild Music team · October 9, 2026 · 7 min read
The short answer
The songwriter, or their publisher, registers the composition with their PRO (such as ASCAP, BMI or SOCAN) and with The MLC. You, the recording artist, take care of the recording: you deliver it through your distributor, which can assign its ISRC, and you can register as a featured artist and sound recording owner with SoundExchange. You don't register a song you didn't write as your own composition.
Release a song you didn't write and you'll quickly meet a pile of acronyms: PRO, MLC, ISRC, SoundExchange. It's easy to assume you need to sign up for all of them and register everything. Doing that can actually cause problems, such as duplicate or conflicting registrations.
The cleaner way to think about it is that every release has two copyrights, and each one has its own owner and its own paperwork. Once you know which side is yours, the list gets short.
Two copyrights, two sets of paperwork
The U.S. Copyright Office treats a musical composition and a sound recording as two separate works. The composition is the melody and lyrics, authored by the songwriters. The sound recording is a particular performance, authored by performers, producers and engineers. A copyright in the recording is not a substitute for the copyright in the composition.
On a licensed song, the writers own the composition. On Starchild, writers keep their copyright and the license grants you recording and release rights. You own your recording. So the writers register the song, and you take care of the recording.
The writer's side: PRO and The MLC
Performing rights organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI and SOCAN collect performance royalties for songwriters and publishers. ASCAP says writers who publish their own works should register their music themselves, and that if a writer has a publishing deal, the publisher may do it for them. It also asks that a title be registered only once.
The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) administers blanket mechanical licenses for streaming and download services in the U.S. and pays the resulting royalties to songwriters, composers, lyricists and publishers. It says registering is free and that it distributes 100 percent of the mechanical royalties it collects. Registering a song with The MLC is the writer's or publisher's job.
SOCAN, Canada's PRO, notes that no payment is made for musical works that haven't been registered. That's why the writer's registration matters so much, and why your accurate credits help it work.
Your side: distributor, ISRC and SoundExchange
Your side of the paperwork is about the recording you made and own. It's shorter than the writer's list, and most of it happens when you upload.
One detail worth knowing: SOCAN notes that Spotify's threshold of 1,000 streams per year before a track earns royalties applies to master recording royalties, not composition royalties. For a brand-new artist, that's a good reason to plan promotion so your recording clears that line.
- Your distributor. You upload the recording with full metadata, including the writers' names in the songwriter fields. That delivery is what puts your version on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other services.
- ISRC. The International ISRC Agency says an ISRC identifies a sound recording and is not used for compositions. Your distributor can assign one if you don't have one.
- SoundExchange. It collects digital performance royalties for featured artists and sound recording owners when recordings play on non-interactive services like SiriusXM, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Recording artists and owners must be registered with SoundExchange to receive these payments, and you can register as a performer, a rights owner or both.
- Copyright registration of your recording (optional). The Copyright Office's Circular 56A explains how sound recordings and compositions can be registered separately or together. For a licensed song, any registration you file should claim only your recording, since the composition belongs to the writers.
What you should not register
Don't register the composition with your PRO as if you wrote it, even if you rearranged it. Performing and arranging are recording contributions. A registration that lists you as a writer conflicts with the real writers' registrations, and ASCAP notes that changing or reducing another party's share on an existing work may require signed correspondence from that party.
If you did change lyrics or melody with the writers' written permission and they agreed to share credit, the writers' registration is the place to reflect it. ASCAP says versions with different writers or splits should be registered as separate works. That's a conversation to have with the writers before release.
Getting this wrong has real costs. ASCAP warns that when splits and registrations aren't worked out early, bad title registrations and disputes can lead to inaccurate royalty payments or royalties going to the wrong person. Keeping your hands off the composition registration protects the writers and keeps your own release free of disputes.
If you also write your own songs, register those with your PRO as usual. The licensed song stays on the writers' list. If your release involves a label, your own publishing company, or international deals, a music attorney can confirm who files what.
How to help the writer get paid
Your release is more useful to the writers when they know about it. ASCAP tells its members they can register a work as soon as it's written and add the performer's name once it has been performed. A short note with your release details makes that easy for them.
- Song title, exactly as released.
- Your artist name.
- The ISRC your distributor assigned.
- Release date and the distributor you used.
- Links to the release once it's live.
A quick who-files-what checklist
Here's the whole division of labor in one place. Print it, or keep it in your release folder next to your license.
- Composition with a PRO: the writer or their publisher.
- Composition with The MLC: the writer or their publisher.
- Recording delivery and ISRC: you, through your distributor.
- Featured-artist and master-owner registration with SoundExchange: you.
- Proof that you're licensed to release the song: your license certificate, verifiable at starchild.music/verify.