You write a song with someone overseas.

You live in the UK and belong to PRS.

Your collaborator lives in the US and belongs to ASCAP or BMI.

Can you register the composition correctly?

Yes.

International songwriting collaborations are common.

The important thing is recording accurate ownership information and ensuring the relevant collection organisations can identify the same composition.

Agree the composition shares first

Before registration, decide what each writer owns.

For example:

Writer A: 50%

Writer B: 30%

Writer C: 20%

Put the agreement in writing.

Do not assume the person who produced the master automatically owns the same percentage of the composition.

Collect legal names

Streaming artist names and legal songwriter names are not always identical.

A songwriter may release music under an alias.

Publishing registrations need to connect the composition with the correct legal or registered songwriter identity.

For every writer, collect:

  • Legal name
  • Professional name
  • PRO
  • IPI number
  • Ownership share
  • Publisher or administrator

What is an IPI?

An IPI is an identifier used to connect songwriters and publishers with their rights registrations.

It helps distinguish people with similar names.

For international collaborations, this can be particularly useful.

Can writers belong to different PROs?

Yes.

A song can contain writers affiliated with different performing-rights organisations.

That does not automatically prevent registration.

Each organisation needs enough information to identify the work and the relevant participants.

How do publishers fit in?

Each writer may have their own publisher or publishing administrator.

One songwriter might self-administer.

Another might have a publishing deal.

Another might use a standalone administration service.

The registration needs to reflect those arrangements accurately.

Register one composition, not several unrelated songs

If all the writers contributed to the same musical work, the registrations should refer to that work.

Use consistent:

  • Main song title
  • Alternative titles
  • Writers
  • Ownership shares
  • Identifiers

An ISWC may be assigned to the composition.

That identifier is separate from the ISRC belonging to a sound recording.

What about collaborators in different languages?

Keep both the original and approved alternative spellings of titles and names.

For example, a song may have:

  • Original Korean title
  • Romanised title
  • English translation

Consistent identifiers help connect those versions.

Don’t confuse publishing with distributor revenue sharing

You might split master royalties automatically through RouteNote’s Revenue Sharing feature.

That does not automatically register the composition ownership with publishing societies.

The two processes serve different rights.

Check the finished registration

After submission, verify:

  • All writers appear
  • Shares are correct
  • Publishers are correct
  • Work title is accurate
  • Alternative titles are recorded
  • Identifiers match

Correct mistakes before the song becomes commercially significant.

Final thoughts

International songwriting registrations are manageable when everyone agrees their ownership beforehand.

The problem usually isn’t that the co-writers live in different countries.

It’s that nobody collected the correct information before release.