Please help me with a few basic questions

[MackMan]

I have been making beats for local rappers for a few years now. One of them put out an album recently with a few of my beats on it.

Supposedly, a friend of a friend's cousin or something (you know how that story goes) knew someone at a major label and they might pick the album up. He has already sold around 1000 copies locally.

I am not registered with any agency, don't have a business license, and have never copyrighted a beat or anything else legal.

My questions are

1: What agencies should I register with in order to get paid if his album ever goes big?
2: How can I go about copyrighting my beats?
3: Is it too late to do any of this for this particular album that is already released?
4: Should I get the business license first and then register with the agencies and copyright the beats under the business name? Or register with agencies and copyright beats under my own name, and then get the business license later?
5: What is the standard royalty payout rate for a beat on an album in this case? For that matter, what is the standard royalty rate for singers, rappers, and everyone involved?

This was all just a hobby so I never cared about any of this stuff. Even so, if it sells a million copies nationwide, I do want my share. And I definitely want to know what I'm talking about when we start talking about royalties, and I want to be totally legit with all the copyrights and registrations and all that.

 

[ProducerJC]

1. What agencies should I register with in order to get paid if his album goes big?

Answer: The idea is to protect beats before anything gets picked up or record. This is where friendship, family, and business hit a grey area. Nobody wants to lose friends or family member. The fact is that, when people steal anything, it's most likely to be from somebody close to them. Be prepared to have your creation sucked out from under you by record labels. Their job is to make as money as possible and one way to do that is to cut out those that have no legal right to the project. And by legal right, I mean documented proof of partial ownership of the intellectual property.

2: How can I go about copyrighting my beats?

Answer: just click here and get started. Be sure to read carefully.

3: Is it too late to do any of this for this particular album that is already released?

Answer: If nobody has file for legal copyrights then you should do that right now. If your friend has filed the copyrights, the he's the only one that can give permission to the record label for the album's duplication.

4: Should I get the business license first and then register with the agencies and copyright the beats under the business name? Or register with agencies and copyright beats under my own name, and then get the business license later?

Answer: Just copyright beats under your own name until you decide to operate as a business.

5. What is the standard royalty payout rate for a beat on an album in this case? For that matter, what is the standard royalty rate for singers, rappers, and everyone involved?

Answer: The only royalty payout is the own that you can negotiate and secure for yourself prior to the selling the album.

Rather this is a hobby or a business for you, it's your responsibility to know whats up. Keep educating yourself and talk to an entertainment lawyer ASAP.