Copyrights on CD's

[Ben]

Why do bands copyright their songs under names that are separate from the band or the lead singer's name?

i.e. Pedro the Lion's Winner's Never Quit: "all songs © juan the owl music and published by 2000 juan the owl."

I'm pretty sure its a legal thing, but can someone explain this?

[fizzoug]

when you sign up with a company like BMI or ASCAP, you can copyright your songs under your name for free or start a "publishing company" for a one time fee and basically just have a fun name for yoru "company." maybe once you are the size of U2, this may be an actual small company that keeps tracks of the royalties i guess, but at a smaller pedro size, its just they paid $100 or whatever so they could have the fancy name. some people don't use it tho. -doug