John,

A lot of this is going in ways I don't understand. There is only one copyright on any song. The melody and lyrics. They are not done separately or as "Chapters." Different publishers can only share the copyright on one song at a time.

Most professional writers never copyright songs until they are ready to be commercially released. When you write 200 songs a year and most of them go no where there is no sense in it. That is what publishers do.

MAB