Copyright can get confusing quickly because one song can involve more than one copyright and more than one kind of royalty.

So it helps to start with the rights themselves.

Section 106 of U.S. copyright law identifies six categories of exclusive rights, meaning rights the copyright owner generally controls or can authorize someone else to use.

There is one important catch for songwriters: not every kind of copyrighted work receives all six rights.

A musical composition has rights involving reproduction, derivative works, distribution, public performance and public display. The sixth right, public performance by digital audio transmission, applies specifically to sound recordings.

Understanding that distinction makes the rest of the music business a lot easier to follow.

First, a song and a recording are not the same copyright

A commercially released song usually involves at least two separate copyrights.

The musical composition is the underlying music and lyrics written by the songwriter or songwriters.

The sound recording, sometimes called the master, is the particular recorded performance of that composition.

You can own one without owning the other.

For example, an artist may record a song written by somebody else. The songwriter still has rights in the composition, while the artist or record label may own the new sound recording.

Keep those two copyrights separate as we work through the six rights.

1. The right to reproduce

The reproduction right controls making copies of a copyrighted work.

For a musical composition, that can include reproducing the song in physical or digital formats. CDs, vinyl records, downloads and certain copies created through interactive streaming can all involve reproduction rights.

This is where mechanical royalties enter the picture.

A mechanical royalty is money generated by certain reproductions and distributions of a musical composition.

For eligible digital uses in the United States, including interactive streams and downloads, The Mechanical Licensing Collective administers the blanket mechanical license created by the Music Modernization Act.

A songwriter’s reproduction right also matters when another artist wants to record a previously released song.

2. The right to prepare derivative works

A derivative work is a new work based on an existing copyrighted work.

That can include certain adaptations, translations, arrangements or other transformations of the original work.

For music, this right becomes important when somebody wants to make meaningful changes to a composition rather than simply perform it as written.

For example, the compulsory mechanical license for a cover song does not give someone unlimited permission to rewrite the original composition.

Copyright law allows some rearrangement necessary for a particular performance, but the compulsory license does not authorize changes to the song’s basic melody or fundamental character.

So “I got a mechanical license” does not mean “I can now do anything I want with the song.”

3. The right to distribute

The distribution right controls distributing copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public.

A phonorecord is a legal term for a physical or digital object in which sounds are fixed, such as a CD, vinyl record or digital audio file.

Reproduction and distribution are separate rights, although music licensing often handles them together.

Section 115 of the Copyright Act, for example, provides a compulsory license covering certain reproduction and distribution rights in nondramatic musical works.

Today, the U.S. blanket license for covered digital uses includes permanent downloads, limited downloads and interactive streaming.

That is one reason streaming can generate mechanical royalties on the composition side in addition to other royalties.

4. The right to perform publicly

The public-performance right is especially important to songwriters.

A public performance can happen when a composition is played or performed in places such as:

• radio and television
• streaming services
• concert venues
• restaurants and bars
• retail stores
• other public businesses and services

In the United States, performing rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR and AllTrack license many of these uses and distribute performance royalties to the songwriters and publishers they represent.

Our guide to performing rights organizations explains that system in more detail.

Interactive streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music can generate public-performance royalties for the composition alongside mechanical royalties.

Different rights. Different royalty streams.

5. The right to display publicly

The public-display right allows the copyright owner to control certain public displays of the work.

For a musical composition, this can apply to the visual expression of the music or lyrics, such as displaying sheet music or written lyrics publicly.

This right is easy to misunderstand because music used in a movie, commercial or video game is commonly called a synchronization, or sync, use.

A sync license allows a musical composition to be used in timed relation with visual content.

However, sync licensing should not simply be treated as another name for the public-display right. Audiovisual uses can involve several copyright rights, and there is no compulsory synchronization license.

The composition owner normally negotiates the sync permission, while use of a particular sound recording generally requires separate permission from the master owner.

6. The right to perform a sound recording through digital audio transmission

This is where the phrase “six rights of a songwriter” needs a little clarification.

The sixth right in Section 106 is the exclusive right to perform a sound recording publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Congress added this right through the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995.

It applies to the sound recording, not to the underlying musical composition.

In the United States, this right is particularly important for qualifying non-interactive digital services, where the listener does not choose each individual song on demand.

Pandora Radio is a familiar example.

SoundExchange administers statutory royalties from many of these qualifying digital performances and distributes money to featured recording artists and sound-recording copyright owners.

The songwriter’s composition can generate a separate public-performance royalty from the same use.

Again, one stream can involve more than one copyright and more than one payment system.

What about Spotify, Apple Music and other on-demand services?

Interactive services add another layer because listeners can choose specific songs on demand.

A stream on a service such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music can involve:

• money associated with the sound recording
• public-performance royalties associated with the composition
• mechanical royalties associated with the composition

The companies and organizations responsible for paying or collecting each part can differ.

That is why a distributor, performing rights organization and The MLC are not interchangeable.

Your distributor works with the sound recording. Your PRO handles certain public-performance royalties for the composition. The MLC administers certain U.S. digital mechanical royalties.

Our music distribution checklist covers several of those registrations and business details worth handling before release.

Owning copyright does not mean every use requires permission

The word exclusive can make copyright sound absolute.

It is not.

Sections 107 through 122 of U.S. copyright law contain limitations and exceptions to copyright owners’ exclusive rights.

Those include concepts such as fair use and several statutory or compulsory licensing systems.

For music, Section 115 is especially important because it can allow qualifying parties to reproduce and distribute a previously released nondramatic musical work without negotiating an individual license directly with the copyright owner, provided they satisfy the law’s requirements.

So the exclusive rights are the foundation.

The exceptions and licensing rules determine how those rights operate in particular situations.

Copyright exists before registration

Copyright protection generally begins when an original work is created and fixed in a tangible medium.

For a songwriter, that could mean writing down the lyrics, recording a demo or otherwise fixing the composition in a form that can be perceived or reproduced.

You do not have to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office for copyright to exist.

Registration still matters.

For U.S. works, registration is generally required before bringing a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court. Timely registration can also affect the remedies available if infringement occurs.

In other words, copyright ownership and copyright registration are related, but they are not the same thing.

Know which right you are talking about

Music royalties make considerably more sense once you stop treating “copyright” as one giant bucket.

Ask two questions:

Which copyright are we talking about: the composition or the sound recording?

Then ask which right is being used.

Reproduction. Derivative works. Distribution. Public performance. Public display. Or, for sound recordings, public performance through digital audio transmission.

From there, you can start figuring out who licenses the use, who collects the money and who should get paid.

This article provides general information about U.S. copyright law and is not legal advice. Copyright ownership, licensing and royalty questions can depend on the work, use, agreements and territory involved. Consult a qualified attorney about specific legal questions.