No and no! Contrary to what many composers think, securing copyright protection does NOT require registering with the Copyright Office (or with SongRegistration.comâ„¢, for that matter)!
Securing your copyright itself is an automatic process. Copyright protection attaches as soon as original material is first put into physical form and no U.S. government agency "grants" you a copyright!
It's proving that automatic copyright that's critical (by making a dated public record of it). The Copyright Office makes this clear — that registration there is NOT necessary for copyright protection (also see answer #10).
As for why you may also wish to register with the Copyright Office even if it's not necessary for copyright protection, a primary reason is that federal registration is required — not because this "copyrights" your material (since that is an automatic process) — but as a prerequisite to actually filing your infringement lawsuit in federal court regarding a particular song.
There are also certain statutory advantages regarding fees, injunctive relief and burdens of proof that make federal copyright registration a definite consideration (and why we encourage it)!
These and other reasons to also register with the Copyright Office are described in the Copyright Office's publication "Copyright Basics" (linked in answer 10 below) — and a few are discussed in our free Copyright Info Packet — but NONE of them involves actually "granting" you a copyright since, as already mentioned, you do NOT get a copyright that way!
(Your copyrights are registered with us independently, on our secure servers, NOT with the Copyright Office/Library of Congress.)
The above publication clarifies what registering with the Copyright Office does — and does not — do, so do read it thoroughly!
As it explains, registering with the Copyright Office does not "grant" you a copyright or copyright protection. Rather, it makes a record of your "automatic" copyright, similar to what SongRegistration.comâ„¢ does. Click here to access the Copyright Office's publication.
We also encourage you to check with an attorney knowledgeable in copyright and intellectual property law if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of copyright law!