Copyright... granted to all original music upon the first recording. As when you record your song.
COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION.... is when you establish with a reputable 3rd party that fact that YOU created it and when.
Most people in the USA use the US Copyright Office. It is required before any claim of copyright can be brought in a court of law, as in the case of infringement.
DO NOT mail it to yourself registered mail. That is not considered to be a provable event. You must use a reputable 3rd party.
To my knowledge, only a few of these exist. One is the Library of Congress Copyright Office and they charge a fee per song or for a collection of songs. I used to use them and would submit collections with up to 10 or more songs at a time. I believe it is $45 per song or collection.
Now, I use a 3rd party service that comes with a songwriting program called
Masterwriter. It is a songwriting assistant and it includes a subscription to a secure server that date/time stamps your submission. It is non-editable nor is it removable once it's there. Only a court order can get a certified copy out to a judges desk. The cost is very low..... I have had this now for almost 2 years and have not had to renew it yet. It was included in the price of the program. I have over 50 songs protected in this manner.
The reality: In short..... no one is going to steal your songs. Very few people write songs of sufficient commercial, top of the charts, quality to really have to worry or loose sleep over this. As your writing improves, this will of course, change.
I would suggest highly, that when you DO start to plug your songs to publishers, artists and others in the business, DO consider some sort of protection at that point. Many reputable publishers and libraries will not even consider your music unless it is registered and protected. This protects you and it also protects them.
What is copyrightable? Lyrics, and melody. That's about it. With very few exceptions, nothing else is copyrightable. You can not copyright a title, a chord progression, the groove or feel of the song, or the rhythm of the song.
Forget free "fair use".... it generally doesn't apply to songwriters. So don't copy anybodies music intentionally claiming fair use. Even a short segment is not allowed.
One of the questions on every single song contract or library submission form these days concerns the clearance of samples. they want to be sure any and all samples are free and clear of copyright infringement.
How do you copyright a work:
http://www.copyright.gov/ is the site to register the copyright online.
or buy Masterwriter and use their SONGUARD service. Masterwriter is on sale now for $150 which is half of what it cost when I bought it. I find it to be very useful as a writing tool, and had no idea that it included the Songuard service when I got it.
BTW: If and when a publisher signs your song, they will register it with the copyright office for you. It is technically their song when you sign it to them and they will protect it. With libraries, you act as your own publisher in many cases, so it would be up to you to secure the protection needed for the song.
Hope this helps.
For more info on this topic...and this is really just scratching the surface of copyright law.... get the book called "This Business of Music" and read it. Especially the chapters on copyright and international copyright laws. that's some heady reading.
here's a few time stampers: I don't know about these companies, I just found them with a google search.
http://www.guardtime.com/ http://www.e-timestamp.co...8M_v66UCFaVx5Qod4nXGow a more thorough search will turn up more. I'll continue to use Songuard since it is music specific.
post edited by Guitarhacker - 2010/12/14 08:42:31