Where do you register a record label?

Answer 1

You don't "register" a record label per se. But a record label is a business that - like any other business - must be registered to do business under whatever laws and regulations are applicable in the city, county, state, and country where the label operates. So, to "register" a record label, the owner simply registers the business locally (e.g. Joe Smith registers Joe's Barbershop as a 'sole proprietorship' in order to legally operate his shop in his home town). There are many types of business formations. A sole proprietorship (one man owner, unincorporated), an unincorporated partnership, a limited partnership, a Subchapter S Corporation, a public corporation (selling stock in the company), a limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability company (LLC), etc., etc. Then there's the record label's name. The company or label name must not conflict with a name already in use (the name will be cleared through the Secretary of State's office of the state where the label does business). You can trademark a name, either in your own state, or nationally, but, again, only if the name doesn't conflict with one already trademarked. However, a trademark registration isn't entirely necessary or even foolproof. It may be possible to trademark a label name in, say, Kansas, only to learn that a label with the same name (but no trademark registration of the name) has been doing business for years from its location in Oregon. The fact that the Oregon company has been - and still is - operating as a label means that its use of the name trumps the newly minted label in Kansas when it comes to doing business nationally. The Oregon company can successfully obtain a cease and desist order to prevent the new Kansas label from using the name.