Copyright laws protect content creators in all artistic fields. Copyright laws, as they pertain to music, specifically cover compositions, both lyrics and music. A copyright is created the moment a composition is "fixed in any tangible medium of expression." What that means is, the lyrics or music needs to be written on a piece of paper, recorded on tape, videotaped on DVD or downloaded into your computer into a program. Just performing a song or playing a piece of music you’ve composed in public does not give you copyright. And in fact, if someone else writes it down first, you could lose copyright.

Copyright laws enable the songwriter or musician to record the composition (called mechanical rights), perform it in public (performance rights), sell copies of the song and collect money on its sale and use. Currently songwriters earn a 9.1 cent royalty fee from labels per record sold. Performance rights permit performers to sing the song publicly. Those royalties are paid to the songwriter or composer by ASCAP or BMI.

Copyright laws also allow you to license your work to others. For example, you could license a song to a soft drink company to use in one of their commercials. But copyright is limited. The instant you give one person the right to record your work, a compulsory license is automatically granted to anyone else who also wants to record the song, as long as they are willing to pay the royalty.

It is a good practice to register your work with the United States Copyright Office before making the composition public, whether through performance, sending it out on a demo CD or posting it on your web site. Even though it is not a legal requirement, officially registering your compositions make proving infringement easier.

In the same way an author pays their agent a percentage of their earned income, composers and songwriters give up a percentage of copyright ownership to a music publisher. In exchange, the publisher oversees all aspects of the copyright, such as issuing licenses, tracking sales and collecting the money earned. Sometimes a songwriter or composer can get an cash advance against future sales from their music publisher.