Song vs. master
A release can hold two copyrights. The song is the musical work. The master is the sound recording. They are commonly owned and licensed apart from each other.
One recording, two works
The U.S. Copyright Office says that when you record a song, you may be creating two works: a musical work and a sound recording. A musical work is the composition, music and any accompanying words. A sound recording is the particular series of sounds fixed in a recording, the thing people in the trade call the master. The Office’s example is the composition “Respect” and a recording of Aretha Franklin singing it. Those are two works.
The author of the composition is generally the composer and the lyricist. The author of the sound recording can be the performer whose performance is fixed, the producer who processes the sounds and fixes them, both, or another entity if the recording qualifies as a work made for hire. Owning the file on your laptop is not the same as owning either copyright. Circular 1 says mere ownership of a phonorecord does not give you the copyright in the work it contains.
They are licensed separately
The Office says the two works are subject to different rules and are commonly owned and licensed separately. A registration for the composition covers the music and lyrics embodied in it. It does not cover a recorded performance. A registration for the sound recording does not cover the underlying composition.
You can register both on one application only in the case the Office describes: they are embodied in the same phonorecord, and the claimant is the same for both. Otherwise the Office says separate applications are generally required. One distributor upload does not merge the two copyrights.
Why the split changes the money
Public performance of a musical work is a full exclusive right of that work’s owner. For a sound recording, the Office says the public performance right is limited to digital audio transmissions. Its plain example: AM/FM radio stations do not have to get permission or pay royalties to publicly perform sound recordings. The composition can still be owed a performance royalty for that same broadcast.
A sync use needs the composition. If the picture uses a particular recording, it also needs the master. The chapters on rights, licenses, and royalties follow that split instead of treating “the song” as one pile of money.
Sources checked 15 October 2026
If a society has changed a fee or a rule since these pages were read, the society’s page is the one to follow. This is not legal advice.
Tools that sit next to this
Suno and AIVA draft musical works. Auphonic, Ozone, and LANDR work on the recording: mastering it or delivering it. Pex identifies recordings and compositions. None of them decides who owns either copyright.
Generate songs with vocals from a prompt. The free plan on Suno’s pricing page does not include commercial rights; paid plans do.
Generate pieces in a wide range of styles. A free account can download a limited number of tracks under AIVA’s terms; paid plans change ownership and monetization. Read the plan before you release anything.
Level, denoise, and hit a loudness target on a mix or a voice recording. A free monthly allowance exists; paid plans add hours.
Master in a DAW with Ozone’s Master Assistant and the rest of the Ozone suite. Sold as software.
Master with LANDR’s AI engine and distribute the release to streaming services from the same platform. The public plans are paid subscriptions.
Identify recordings, compositions, and AI-generated music. Pex’s site says it has joined Vobile. Platform pricing is sales-led.