Music copywritten by me, but used by company

Hi all, live in the US

I have some music that I have registered with the copyright office under my own name. I am forming a small comapny which will be owned and operated by me. That company wil be licensing some or all of that music to potential clients for a fee. I am wondering if the copyright in my name is sufficient, or if I need to transfer the copyright.

Furthermore, I called the copyright office, and they told me that either doing a transfer or not -both have legal rammifications. Can someone please enlighten me as to exactly what that is supposed to mean?

Thanks in advance.

First off, the word is copyRIGHT.

You can either make the corporation the assignee (i.e. transfer the copyright to them) or you can license them (best to put this in writing) to use your work.

As for what the copyright office what they are saying is that they don't give legal advice.

We can't answer it for you either. What is your intent when forming the company?

FlyingRon said:

First off, the word is copyRIGHT.

Click to expand...

Right! If I didn't know that, I wouldn't have said "copyRIGHT" four times in my post. Thanks for the correction!

I guess what I need to know, is what is the problem with NOT transferring the copyright to the company, and just licnesing a musical work to a client? I understand that there might be a problem if the company was going to be formed with several people, and/or if I had a partner, but such is not the case.

I understand that the copyright office is not going to give legal advice, but I am not seeking any. Not from them, not from here. This question is really "what would those rammifications be"; it is NOT "how should I go about avoiding them?"

"What is your intent when forming the company?"

To license original music to production companies and movie studios.

Thanks again.

salbinti, the answer to your question goes way beyond the scope of what this forum can offer you in the way of advice, as FlyingRon noted.

You really need to sit down personally with an attorney in your area and go over with this attorney your business plans and your personal plans and the real and anticipated finances of both. A business attorney (or perhaps an entertainment attorney) can go over all of the facts you present and advise you on the pros and cons of each option you have.

To explain better perhaps why your question, as simple as it sounds, is not so simple for anyone here to answer: Your question hits on several different areas of the law (ie, copyright law, state business laws, federal business laws, tax laws) and on your personal financial status.

In the area of copyright law, you currently hold all of the exclusive rights in the music you created. You need to decide which of these rights (if any) to license or transfer to your company (for example, licensing rights, distribution rights, marketing rights, production rights). You need to see exactly how the transferring or licensing of each or all of these rights will affect you personally and how they will affect your business (or what you envision your business to be).

There are tax consequences to consider. What makes the most financial sense for you or for your business from this aspect? Transferring assets to your company, for instance, can have some tax benefits, but what exactly these benefits would be for your company and how or if you will benefit on your own personal taxes depends on a review of financial facts.

There are monetary consequences to consider. What sort of income do you hope to generate personally from the business and what sort of revenue (and debt) do you see your business generating, and where and how do these cross?

This is just a small sampling of what needs to be considered before anyone can even approach the answer to the question you posed here.

So I am afraid, just like the Copyright Office, all I can tell you is that whatever you do with your copyrights, it will affect you and your business in some way. You need to discover which effect is most desirable based on all of the facts of your personal situation, and these facts are probably best reviewed by an attorney in your area.

Good luck.