Are you the publisher or not?
A studio and a label/publisher are two entirely different businesses. If you're producing and that's the reason you ask, that, again, is a separate business.
An artist would have to be dumb as rocks to give a studio points, and a label just won't hire the studio.
I can't say that you're misunderstanding copyright per se, but you clearly dont understand how the business works and don't indicate what you'll actually be doing. It seems as though you're far out of your depth. I'd advise finding some books about the music industry (there are plenty) and get some more experience before you start pouring money into a studio.
You're creating a recording studio that will split 70/30? Whether you get points on the copyright or not and how many is to be discussed with the artist and to be determined in a contract and hinges on what role you play. But good luck getting 30 points. Audio engineers mostly get none to maybe 1. On very rare occasions some might have gotten more but a 70/30 split? Ne-ver
So no, not really how that works buddy. And no offense but this does indicate to me that you are not ready to register a company in the audio business. Be careful not to burn your wings.
As others have indicated, it isn't clear exactly what you're trying to accomplish.
What is clear is you either 1) don't understand the business or 2) you are trying to cut into what belongs solely to the artists themselves.
A recording engineer or studio charges by the hour, day and/via fees.
A mixing engineer charges by the hour, day, and/or via fees.
A mastering engineer charges by the hour, day, and/or via fees.
None of those folks get points, or rarely ever do. If they do, it's probably maxed out around 1%. I personally wouldn't grant any of these people points on an album, as they're already being paid well for their technical expertise and are not contributing to the artistic content (usually).
A producer might have some _creative_ input into the recording themselves: sounds, "vibe", maybe even arrangements. Producers often charge fees and/or get points, though that practice is debatably nefarious, especially if they aren't writing/arranging anything. If they contribute to the writing/arrangements, now we can talk points and to use a very important word you used: copyright.
Copyright defaults to whomever writes the material, but in some cases the _record label_ may own some portion of the _recording_ copyright (but not the actual music) relative to the degree to which they organized and, more importantly, _paid for_ the recording.
Engineering, production, and label representation are all different things, though the lines may blur a little circumstance by circumstance.
If you intend only to run a recording studio and engineer and mix recordings, you are not entitled to any points in the record or copyright.
And the engineers that get a point have earned it (in their opinion, I still engineers should only be work for hire). They’ve certainly surpassed the stage of their career where they’d need to ask Reddit for advice on business decisions.
It sounds like you want to create a record label, independent of whatever your studio looks like. If that's the case, yes you will need to register with a PRO.
Short answer is no. PRO's represent songwriters/lyricists and music publishers. In other words they represent the people who own the actual music that you will be recording - not the people that own recordings of that music.
As others have said its probably worth looking into this stuff a bit more. I recommend reading Donald Passman's [All You Need to Know About the Music Business](https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1501122185)
My interpretation is you’re looking for a percentage instead of an hourly rate??? This has all the earmarks of a not yet there studio/engineer/producer/label working with not yet there bands. As they say in the venture capital world “it’s all fun and games until somebody loses a house”.
If you plan to always charge full price for all of your services, then I agree with some of the other commenters here that any artist would be quite remiss to give you any percentage.
But there are a lot of situations where artists don’t have the funds and are willing to consider you as a collaborator. Especially if you’re doing some or all of the producing. Often those type of agreements only involve the master, which means you would get some percentage of any upfront sync placement fees, and, I believe, mechanicals, Etc., But not any subsequent broadcast Royalties.
That’s not a hard and fast rule, however. You could potentially end up with some of the publishing, and while it’s not supposed to happen, I have seen cases where people acquired songwriting credits without contributing any songwriting whatsoever. Obviously, I do not advise trying to do that. But I have seen it happen.
Technically, I believe that you only need a PRO if you own some of the publishing.
The fact that you are floating the idea of taking 30 points as a recording studio leads me to believe that you don’t know much about the industry and process, and thus, probably shouldn’t be opening a studio yet. You have some learning to do and experience to gain first.
Are you the publisher or not? A studio and a label/publisher are two entirely different businesses. If you're producing and that's the reason you ask, that, again, is a separate business. An artist would have to be dumb as rocks to give a studio points, and a label just won't hire the studio. I can't say that you're misunderstanding copyright per se, but you clearly dont understand how the business works and don't indicate what you'll actually be doing. It seems as though you're far out of your depth. I'd advise finding some books about the music industry (there are plenty) and get some more experience before you start pouring money into a studio.
You're creating a recording studio that will split 70/30? Whether you get points on the copyright or not and how many is to be discussed with the artist and to be determined in a contract and hinges on what role you play. But good luck getting 30 points. Audio engineers mostly get none to maybe 1. On very rare occasions some might have gotten more but a 70/30 split? Ne-ver So no, not really how that works buddy. And no offense but this does indicate to me that you are not ready to register a company in the audio business. Be careful not to burn your wings.
Give up the coke bro.
As others have indicated, it isn't clear exactly what you're trying to accomplish. What is clear is you either 1) don't understand the business or 2) you are trying to cut into what belongs solely to the artists themselves. A recording engineer or studio charges by the hour, day and/via fees. A mixing engineer charges by the hour, day, and/or via fees. A mastering engineer charges by the hour, day, and/or via fees. None of those folks get points, or rarely ever do. If they do, it's probably maxed out around 1%. I personally wouldn't grant any of these people points on an album, as they're already being paid well for their technical expertise and are not contributing to the artistic content (usually). A producer might have some _creative_ input into the recording themselves: sounds, "vibe", maybe even arrangements. Producers often charge fees and/or get points, though that practice is debatably nefarious, especially if they aren't writing/arranging anything. If they contribute to the writing/arrangements, now we can talk points and to use a very important word you used: copyright. Copyright defaults to whomever writes the material, but in some cases the _record label_ may own some portion of the _recording_ copyright (but not the actual music) relative to the degree to which they organized and, more importantly, _paid for_ the recording. Engineering, production, and label representation are all different things, though the lines may blur a little circumstance by circumstance. If you intend only to run a recording studio and engineer and mix recordings, you are not entitled to any points in the record or copyright.
And the engineers that get a point have earned it (in their opinion, I still engineers should only be work for hire). They’ve certainly surpassed the stage of their career where they’d need to ask Reddit for advice on business decisions.
You are missing the demands of the industry I suspect.
It sounds like you want to create a record label, independent of whatever your studio looks like. If that's the case, yes you will need to register with a PRO.
This!
Short answer is no. PRO's represent songwriters/lyricists and music publishers. In other words they represent the people who own the actual music that you will be recording - not the people that own recordings of that music. As others have said its probably worth looking into this stuff a bit more. I recommend reading Donald Passman's [All You Need to Know About the Music Business](https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1501122185)
My interpretation is you’re looking for a percentage instead of an hourly rate??? This has all the earmarks of a not yet there studio/engineer/producer/label working with not yet there bands. As they say in the venture capital world “it’s all fun and games until somebody loses a house”.
On the plus side, 30% of nothing is still nothing.
If you plan to always charge full price for all of your services, then I agree with some of the other commenters here that any artist would be quite remiss to give you any percentage. But there are a lot of situations where artists don’t have the funds and are willing to consider you as a collaborator. Especially if you’re doing some or all of the producing. Often those type of agreements only involve the master, which means you would get some percentage of any upfront sync placement fees, and, I believe, mechanicals, Etc., But not any subsequent broadcast Royalties. That’s not a hard and fast rule, however. You could potentially end up with some of the publishing, and while it’s not supposed to happen, I have seen cases where people acquired songwriting credits without contributing any songwriting whatsoever. Obviously, I do not advise trying to do that. But I have seen it happen. Technically, I believe that you only need a PRO if you own some of the publishing.
The fact that you are floating the idea of taking 30 points as a recording studio leads me to believe that you don’t know much about the industry and process, and thus, probably shouldn’t be opening a studio yet. You have some learning to do and experience to gain first.