Ascap Writer Application: Fill & Download for Free

Regarding 2 old recordings written & performed by my late grandfather. I own the copyrights. I have an ASCAP membership. Can those recordings be associated with my membership to collect royalties for his songs while his name remains on the credits?You own the rights to your grandfather’s works, and can license them just as if they were your own. But you cannot claim them as your own work with ASCAP. You can register them with a copyright under his name, using his will to show you have the power to do so. But the copyrights will end 70 years (in the US) after his death - not yours. And you will have to pay his membership dues in ASCAP separate from yours. ASCAP may refuse to register.From the ASCAP site:1.8 Election to Membership Posthumously. A deceased writer may be elected to Writer Membership posthumously, provided that the deceased would have qualified for ASCAP Writer Membership during his or her lifetime. The application for such Membership is entitled: “Application for Posthumous Election to Membership and Application for a Successor for a Deceased Writer.” This application must be submitted simultaneously with an ASCAP Writer Membership Application made in the name of the deceased. These applications are available on the ASCAP website.https://www.ascap.com/~/media/files/pdf/members/governing-documents/compendium-of-ascap-rules-regulations.pdfThis would be a good time to talk to a lawyer.

Art for music:Work for Hire (Artist outside the label) - The album art is completely separate from the music: Art is commissioned by a record label and they retain the right to “certain usage” of a piece - a la shirts, stickers etc. The piece is still under the copyright of the original creator. This allows artists to show at galleries or sell their own merch with the artwork but is limited depending on the contract with the labelLabel employee (in house Artist) - The work is owned by label since the Artist is an employee of the company - Think Disney - This is actually pretty uncommon in music, since agents tend to manage both Musicians and Artists (The ones that do visuals).Music copyright is completely different - you have a mechanical and songwriter copyright which both have equal weight.mechanical copyright is the actual recording and payment is required to owner (usually thru Ascap or Bmi) when playing it in a non private space or thru the sale for personal use.Songwriter (or performance) copyright is paid to the song writer(s) and payment is required when covering a song and any instance where a mechanical copyright is applicable (also handled by ASCAP or BMI)

Can you bypass having to pay a band to use their song if you instead use a cover of said song? Or do you need permission for the cover as well?First of all, you are mixing up pairs of things which, in each pair, are distinctly different.So let’s distinguish between a song — that is, a musical composition, which is an abstract thing, and a sound recording, which is a physical thing, even if it exists on some digital or other electronic recording medium.Let’s also distinguish between permission and license, since they are not the same under American law.Let’s see some applications of this.If I want my band to make a sound recording using some author’s song, do I need permission? NO - but I do need a license. I pay for that license. It used to be a standard amount (if I couldn’t negotiate a better deal). WIth the new Music Modernization Act, the amounts will vary. I don’t need permission because the license is a compulsory mechanical license.What about making a video or film? I need a “sync” license to use the musical composition — unless I get permission — but the same will apply if I want to use someone else’s recording of that song, rather than make my own with my band, or some band. I will need a “master” license if I want to use the original recording — probably a hit in the past. Very often you will hear a commercial playing a song you know, that sounds just a bit different from the record you know — someone else is performing it. This saves money on a “master” license.How about if you play someone else’s recording of the song on AM/FM radio? No individual permission needed, but the station will be paying royalties to the song-writer, through a PRO like ASCAP. What does the band receive? Zero. Zip. So here it does not matter if you play your own band’s sound recording.Do I need permission or license to:play or perform the song for a private party in my living room? NO.use the song in face to face education? NO.use the song in certain types of distance education? NO.So as you can see, this a more complicated question than you realized, and a QUORA user who gives you a pat answer probably doesn’t have the slightest idea of what he/she is talking about - no matter how sure he is that he does because he is a photographer, or something equally ridiculous.I can’t cover every situation, but hopefully I hit the one you are concerned with.JA - Juris Doctor, LL.M. Intellectual PropertyNo legal advice is intended.