Barry,

I just returned from a workshop at Common Ground on the Hill where precisely this question was asked.

The answer there was, yes, you can copyright a collection. The major advantage is that there is only one fee so it is cheaper. The individual songs will be protected this way.

The disadvantage comes when someone is searching for your copyrighted song. It will not be listed and won't come up in a copyright search. Only the name of the collection will be listed. This makes it harder for other artists, who might want to use your song (and pay you for it,) to find the song and most especially you the songwriter and copyright holder.

They said if you get rich later, you can go back and copyright the individual tunes for a new fee.

Hope this is helpful.

Roger in Baltimore