The short answer
Yes. Nothing in 18 U.S.C. 2257 or its regulations requires an outside custodian. A producer can keep the records and be named on the 2257 statement. The real question is what doing it yourself puts on your content and on your calendar.
What the custodian of records is
The custodian is the person or business that keeps the 2257 records and makes them available for inspection. The 2257 statement on your content tells the world where those records are.
What being your own custodian takes
These come straight from the regulations (28 C.F.R. Part 75):
- A street address on every 2257 statement. The statement must give a street address where the records can be made available. A post office box does not satisfy it. For most solo creators that address is home, printed on content published to strangers.
- Records kept at your place of business. The records have to be available at the producer's place of business, or at the place of business of a custodian the producer contracts with.
- Inspections without warning. The regulations say advance notice of an inspection is not given. Inspections happen during normal business hours, which the regulations define as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday, or any other time you are actually conducting production business there.
- At least 20 hours a week. If you do not keep at least 20 normal business hours a week, you must tell the inspecting agency the hours your records will be available, and those hours can never be fewer than 20 a week.
- Years of keeping. Each record is kept for seven years from when it was created or last changed, and for five years after you stop doing business.
What a third-party custodian changes, and what it does not
The regulations let a producer contract with a custodian who is not an employee to keep copies of the records. That custodian has to meet every record obligation in the regulations. The contract does not move the legal duty off the producer.
In plain terms, a custodian takes the address and the hours off your hands. The responsibility for your content stays yours.
Choosing
Being your own custodian costs nothing but puts your street address on your content and ties you to an inspection schedule. A third-party custodian keeps your address off your content and keeps the records available during business hours without you being there.
Where Easy2257 fits
Easy2257 is named Custodian of Records on your 2257 statement, at a staffed business address in Scottsdale, Arizona that is open during normal business hours, and your records are produced from our systems on request. How to set up a Custodian of Records walks through the setup, and the 2257 statement page shows what the statement has to say.
Informational only, not legal advice.