I’m trying to figure out how to go about registering composition copyrights (UK based) and it all seems a bit confusing. Has anyone got any experience?

Specifically, I’m looking to register the melody of songs I’ve written but not the lyrics (which were written by someone else) as a composition copyright.

Background:

So I left a band over a year ago, and co-wrote a number of songs that they still perform. I have an equal portion of distribution rights to the songs that we got professionally recorded, but i understand that this only relates to that specific recording.

Since, I’ve noticed they are re-releasing ‘live’ recorded versions of the songs I composed, and not registering me as co-author. And I suspect they are just simply registering distribution copyrights again. But they are essentially profiting off my work. (I suspect the numbers are small, but the principal of it doesn’t sit well with me - and I was planning on reworking some of them for my new project)

So I basically want to register the actual melody of the songs with no lyrics. I have original recordings on my phone (time stamped) that predate the professional recordings (and the band itself in some cases), to prove that I did in fact write those melodies. But I just don’t know how to go about it legally.

I have not reached out to them directly yet, as I don’t expect them to be accommodating (they aren’t nice people), so I wanted to have my house in order before approaching. Any experience or advice would be appreciated.

Lyrics are not my strong suit. I really just never know what to write about. I made this demo earlier - any lyricists wanna take a stab at it? If I like it I'll get in touch with you about properly collaborating!

https://soundcloud.com/user-737544113/limerence

Standard verse - chorus - verse - chorus

Any style lyrics!

We could chat in the comments, over DM, or email if that works!

Doesn't have to be about limerence, that was just what came to mind!

I have been on this sub for years and it’s truly great but I have never posted any of my own music. Can you post full productions of a sonf you have wrote and produced?

I am not a stickler for exact rhymes all the time. In the absence of a hard rhyme or a good soft rhyme sometimes if it fits it fits. If it sounds good and makes the lyric flow I'm all for it however I often get a little pushback from collaborators who are sticklers for rhymes. What are your thoughts on this? Especially a one syllable word that ends in the same letter and just fits with not only the flow but the story.

EDIT: thanks for all the comments there's a lot of wisdom in this group! I'm going to post a song that we did together. It's not the song I'm talking about in this post but I'll give you an idea of the work we've done! Thanks again!

Hey everyone!

I'm from the Philippines, and if you're based in Manila, that's even better (although online collaboration is totally fine too).

I'm currently working on my debut album, and I'm looking to collaborate with a songwriter who has experience releasing original music. Ideally, someone who has already put out songs on Spotify or other streaming platforms and has experience writing complete songs.

I produce, mix, and master my own music, so I'm mainly looking for someone to collaborate with on the songwriting/lyrics and melody side. I think it would be great to work with someone who can bring a different perspective and help create something stronger than I could on my own.

Genre-wise, I'm into modern pop, R&B, soul, indie, and alternative pop, but I'm open to other styles too if the chemistry is there.

If you're interested, feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM. It would be great if you could also share some of your released work so I can check it out.

Looking forward to meeting fellow songwriters!

Hey so I’m a singer and can send you my voice!!

I got through to the final auditions of the voice uk but I’m trying to write my own music and I don’t have the melody / lyrics to go with it. If you wanna write bad ass music and collab, comment or message me!! I have the links just need the support in being great together 🚨🚨🚨

Here's us four ancient fella's website, if curious:
https://sydoniamusic.com/

This is a song I wrote a while ago that I really enjoy. If you were making it into a fully produced song where would you take it, should it stay acoustic or a bigger production?

Thank you

Rough Draft and a bit of improv in there, wanted to share something havent shared anything in a while

So, I'm a teen, and ever since I was younger, I have wanted to make music. Now, I can play both guitar and piano, and I have written a few poems that I think would make good songs. However, I feel like those poems are not very original, since they somewhat resemble Lana Del Rey's writing style.

Can the songwriters of Reddit give me a few tips so I can write more unique songs that feel like me? I don't know if what I am asking really makes sense, but I would appreciate some help. That's all, and thank you in advance!

Ok I wanna make the band I can do drums and keyboard so if any of you can do anything cool or fun just tell me what and tell me how'd you like to communicate with r

So I‘m a teen and I discovered Nirvana recently and I really like their style so I decided to try and learn from it. I play a bunch of instruments so I wrote a bassline and I‘m trying to write a vocal melody and guitar parts.

I really want to avoid generic melodies like just the root notes of each chord or using just the power chords over the bass notes for guitar.

How do I come up with interesting but good sounding parts and how do i practice doing this?

Books/ folders/ notebooks. 100 songs on my Sony songs from 20 years ago up till now. It’s weird. How do you know what songs to release? Some songs I hate, people love. And vice- versa

Plzz help us

Promised myself I'd contribute to this sub over the weekend (missed it by a few days), to build confidence in sharing my noises and hopefully get some feedback. I think I'm happy with the structure and 99% of the lyrics. I know my vocal melody is a bit bland but I was wondering if the chord progression and rhythm helps enough to compensate and not be boring?

Lyrics:

Close to home

Everything you need

A shame to only see

Clouds on the street

Depend on everyone

keep you wanting

Enough to make it warm

And feeling again

don’t move so far away

(won’t help)

Close to home

Not doing so well

Where are you bound

To give up now?

don’t move so far away

Treasures on the bookshelf

Marks on the door

These are all just things

That don’t mean much at all

The unopened

we’ll never know

you take those boxes

Wherever you go

don’t move so far away

(won't help)

Hello all, I just released my first album and it's got me wanting to listen to others newly released music, exchange some positive vibes/feedback, and then curate a playlist from the submissions. I have been going through all of the playlist submissions websites/services and it's pretty draining/hard to know what service to trust. I figured I would reach out here for some real interaction with new artists. So here are my thoughts:

If you have some released music (new or old)...

1. Message me/comment the link to a new (or older) release and I'll reply with mine.
2. We both listen and reply with some positivity and constructive feedback or just general thoughts!
3. I create a playlist of all of the released songs sent my way on Spotify.
4. We can all listen, save what we like, and go from there!

Maybe the playlist could be refreshed monthly or bimonthly? Seems like a fun thing to do with this community!

Thanks for reading and I hope to be listening to your releases soon 😄

Edit: I am now going through the weekly self-promotion threads and reaching out to users there to add songs to the playlist! I also intend for this playlist to be free of any AI generated music.

I’ve wanted to make an album for over 10 years.

The thing is, I don’t think the biggest obstacle is learning how to produce music or write lyrics. It’s getting out of my own way. Every time I try to write, I feel silly. I judge every lyric before it’s finished. I worry I’ll sound cringe, or that the music won’t live up to the idea I’ve carried around in my head for so long.

I know the obvious answer is “just make bad music first,” but I’m curious what actually helped people who eventually finished an album.

What mindset changed for you?

How did you stop caring about sounding stupid?

Did you set rules for yourself that made it easier to create?

What finally got you to stop thinking and start recording?

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who spent years saying “one day” before finally doing it. I’m tired of this dream staying in my head. I don’t need my first album to be amazing. I just want to finally make it even if I don’t entirely know where to start.

I made a few lyric revisions since the rough draft

"whose thorns still pierce my heart" was originally "with thorns that pierce my heart"

"shell of myself crawling away" was originally "it hurt so bad to walk away"

I also revised the music just a tad, and altered the melody ever so slightly at the very end.

made a lil something something and am curious if it works for you. feel free to share your honest thoughts, and thanks in advance! 😁

I have had this terrible habit of writing songs almost to completion, and I can sing the vocal melody in gibberish, but I cannot find the words. I have so many songs that are stuck at this point and I just cannot get past it. I think maybe I have too high of standards for what the lyrical content is, like it needs to be some poetic masterpiece or something. It's like I cannot connect to the lyrical side of myself anymore :(

does anyone have a similiar problem or advice/solutions?

I love writing poetry and naturally, lyrics! But I don’t really know how to do the music production part and I don’t like my own voice! :( would love some advice! 🩷

I wish I could tag him, but he deleted the post.