First of all, you have to contact the writer or publishing company that sent you the material, and tell them you are interested in recording. Better yet, tell them you LOVED the tune, ask if you can record it, and get the full names of the writer or co writers as well as any publishers connected to the song. Here is a sample permission form.

After you have received your signed permission form you are all set. You need one for every song you are laying down. When you have pressed the CDs you will need to fill out a mechanical license which you can do yourself, or you can contact CMRRA or AVLA who can help you with the paper work and let you know the current rates on mechanical royalties. Some writers are affiliated with these organizations. You don't have to pay the writers until you actually press the CDs, because what you pay is based on the number pressed, and the number is never exactly 1000 or 2000 or 10,000 units. But, it is necessary to get their permission in writing before you even record the songs. Someone else might want the song, and the writer might be in the process of authorizing its use to someone else, and you don't want to spend money on recording a song someone else is about to release! TALK to the writer (have I impressed that upon you enough?).

On average for a 10 song CD, with 1000 units pressed you will pay $85 per song or $850 for the whole 10 track CD. If there are two writers on a song, that $85 gets split between them based on their % of ownership. The current mechanical royalty rate is .08500 cents per song per unit. Sometimes you pay the publishing company directly sometimes it's the writer, it's usually the contact listed on the original songs they sent you that is the one who knows.

So you see how simple it is to do it legitimately? Even songs which have been previously released still require that permission is granted before recording. It’s not expensive to go through the proper channels, but it could be very expensive if you don’t!

Next article, Sales and Royalties.