What is "Best Edition" for a Physical Copyright Deposit?

A “best edition” is the edition published in the United States at any time before the date of deposit that the Library of Congress determines most suitable for its purposes. The United States Copyright Office has codified a preference for various types of physical deposits to be deemed the "best edition". Below you will see the guidelines laid out by the Copyright Office.

For Printed Sheet Music of a Musical Composition

If there are multiple printed formats, you must decide which format constitutes the “best edition.” Use the following criteria provided by the Copyright Office to identify the highest-quality edition. For more information, see Best Edition of Published Copyrighted Works for the Collections of the Library of Congress (Circular 7B).

• Fullness of Score
  • Vocal music
    • With orchestral accompaniment—
      • Full score and parts, if any, rather than conductor’s score and parts, if any. (In cases of compositions published only by rental, lease, or lending, this requirement is reduced to full score only.)
      • Conductor’s score and parts, if any, rather than condensed score and parts, if any. (In cases of compositions published only by rental, lease, or lending, this requirement is reduced to conductor’s score only.)
  • Unaccompanied: Open score (each part on separate staff) rather than closed score (all parts condensed to two staves)
• Instrumental music
  • Full score and parts, if any, rather than conductor’s score and parts, if any. (In cases of compositions published only by rental, lease, or lending, this requirement is reduced to full score only.)
  • Conductor’s score and parts, if any, rather than condensed score and parts, if any. (In cases of compositions published only by rental, lease, or lending, this requirement is reduced to conductor’s score only.)
• Printing and Paper
  
  • Archival-quality rather than less-permanent paper
• Binding and Packaging
  • Special limited editions rather than trade editions
  • Bound rather than unbound
  • If editions have different binding, apply the criteria in I.A.2–I.A.12, in Circular 7B.
  • With protective folders rather than without

For Phonorecords of a Sound Recording

If your sound recording has been distributed to the public in the United States, you may need to comply with the “best edition” requirement by sending two copies of the “best” edition that exists at the time of registration. The “best” edition generally is the highest quality edition that has been publicly distributed in the United States. The Library of Congress has identified the following list, in descending order, of what it considers to be the best edition for sound recordings:

1. Compact disc
2. Vinyl disc
3. Open-reel tape
4. Cartridge tape
5. Cassette tape

For example, if the work was published both on compact disc and vinyl disc before the date of the application to register the work, you should submit the compact disc rather than the vinyl disc.

If your sound recording has not been published in any of the formats listed above, you may upload a digital file that contains any published version of the work.

For more information, see Copyright Registration for Sound Recordings (Circular 56).