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Easy way to copyright and protect those songs you've written.
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:22 am
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:22 am
What easy ways are there for you to copyright your songs and legally protect them?
This post was edited on 5/26/17 at 10:04 am
8
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:32 am to Champagne
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:47 am to Ace Midnight
How was your experience with this organization?
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:53 am to Champagne
Mail them to yourself and don't open them up. Leave them sealed.
Posted on 3/8/16 at 10:58 am to Champagne
quote:
How was your experience with this organization?
I'm not a songwriter, but I have a buddy who is a semi-professional guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He always told me if I wrote songs, go right to ASCAP.
Posted on 3/8/16 at 11:51 am to YouAre8Up
quote:
Mail them to yourself and don't open them up. Leave them sealed.
Good idea. I wonder if it works. Seems like it should.
Posted on 3/8/16 at 12:04 pm to Champagne
I dont want to wade too far deep into copyright, but I always believed that once you create the art (be it paint the picture, or write the book, or score the song) that creates the copyright. For instance, there is no need for an artists who paints a picture to copyright that individual painting.
So if it is just some guitar chords and lyrics in your head, write them down.*
* not legal advice, just my understanding of copyright, which is probably wrong
So if it is just some guitar chords and lyrics in your head, write them down.*
* not legal advice, just my understanding of copyright, which is probably wrong
Posted on 3/8/16 at 12:44 pm to Champagne
Posted on 3/9/16 at 3:04 pm to Champagne
quote:
quote:
Mail them to yourself and don't open them up. Leave them sealed.
Good idea. I wonder if it works. Seems like it should.
This works just fine....it's called the "Poor Man's Copyright".
Like a previous poster mentioned, as soon as you compose a song you also become the copyright holder. You need to record or document it to prove the date of its "birth".
The poor man's copyright was utilized well before the digital age, but these days, computer time stamps serve the same function. Some recording software even has a copyright feature
This post was edited on 3/9/16 at 3:06 pm
Posted on 3/10/16 at 12:15 am to BlackenedOut
quote:
I dont want to wade too far deep into copyright, but I always believed that once you create the art (be it paint the picture, or write the book, or score the song) that creates the copyright. For instance, there is no need for an artists who paints a picture to copyright that individual painting.
So if it is just some guitar chords and lyrics in your head, write them down.*
* not legal advice, just my understanding of copyright, which is probably wrong
More confusing than wrong.
Posted on 3/10/16 at 9:17 am to MidnightVibe
ASCAP (and similar organizations like BMI) do NOT copyright songs. The Library of Congress does that. ASCAP and BMI are Performing Rights Organizations. They work to collect money if/when your music is played on the radio, etc and pay you royalties.
Posted on 3/10/16 at 3:07 pm to Champagne
Once you write your song/music down in a fixed form, it is automatically copyrighted if it is an original work of authorship.
Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is not necessary for copyright status and protection, but it is required if you want to sue for infringement.
If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
There are some other rules on timeliness, but the idea is to register it soon so that you can get statutory damages for any infringement.
Statutory damages and fees are huge, because otherwise you'd likely have to pay your own lawyer up front and try to prove lost profits or how the infringer profited, which can be hard to do. Statutory awards can be between $750 to $30,000 per work (and up to $150,000 per work if the infringement was willful). The availability of those damages and a fee award makes a lawyer more likely to take your case on a contingency basis.
You can read how to register at the US Copyright Office: LINK
Here is what they say about mailing yourself a copy of the song:
I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.
And here is an article about the old myth: LINK
Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is not necessary for copyright status and protection, but it is required if you want to sue for infringement.
If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
There are some other rules on timeliness, but the idea is to register it soon so that you can get statutory damages for any infringement.
Statutory damages and fees are huge, because otherwise you'd likely have to pay your own lawyer up front and try to prove lost profits or how the infringer profited, which can be hard to do. Statutory awards can be between $750 to $30,000 per work (and up to $150,000 per work if the infringement was willful). The availability of those damages and a fee award makes a lawyer more likely to take your case on a contingency basis.
You can read how to register at the US Copyright Office: LINK
Here is what they say about mailing yourself a copy of the song:
I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.
And here is an article about the old myth: LINK
Posted on 12/28/21 at 1:40 am to Champagne
quote:
Mail them to yourself and don't open them up. Leave them sealed.
Good idea. I wonder if it works. Seems like it should.
Not recommended as it is difficult to defend this in court.
The easiest way to be fully protected is to go to the Copyright Office's online portal. Every thing can be done online.
Copyright Office- Registration
You can find info on how to submit a group of unpublished works (2 to 10 works) for one fee ($85 IIRC) here:
Group of Unpublished Works
If you are going to publish the works as an album, there are links on the main site for that as well.
As for ASCAP or BMI or SESAC, they may have resources to help you copyright the works, but they do not do that themselves. They are Perfo4rmance Rights Organizations and have a different function.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 1:44 am to Twenty 49
quote:
...Once you write your song/music down in a fixed form, it is automatically copyrighted if it is an original work of authorship.
Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is not necessary for copyright status and protection, but it is required if you want to sue for infringement...
This post is full of good information.
It is important to reemphasize what Twenty 49 said here. Yes, once you create a work, write it down, record it etc, it is technically copyrighted. BUT, if you ever needed to sue or defend in court, that's a tough hill to climb without registration. The best protection is to register it with the Copyright Office.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:13 am to Twenty 49
quote:
Twenty 49
Everything Twenty 49 said is spot on. I used to do all of this kind of stuff decades ago and still teach the odd class on it when someone can talk me into it.
It's copyrighted at the moment of creation per the 1976 Copyright Act. What you are actually getting from the government is a confirmed date that can be used prima facie evidence were there a copyright dispute. This is also why a "poor man's" copyright won't work - envelopes are easily tampered with.
If you have a bunch of stuff you want to copyright cheaply, do it as a compilation on form PA. That's how we used to do our albums. SR is actually protecting the copyright of the recording itself; fixing sound to a medium is treated as a separate work of art. This would be the "owning your masters" thing you hear about. Without getting too into it, PA is what would be sold for publishing. SR will also provide a date you could use, but PA is the way to go in your use case.
All of this gets into royalty streams, which is a convoluted mess at the moment anyway. For your purposes, if you just want to copyright a bunch of stuff, record everything (doesn't have to be fancy at all), and submit it as an compilation with a PA form. That will give you an established creation date.
This post was edited on 12/28/21 at 2:26 am
Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:18 pm to Champagne
quote:
What easy ways are there for you to copyright your songs and legally protect them?
Your songs become copyrighted as soon as they are fixed in a tangible medium (lyric sheets/charts/recordings etc). How to prove your ownership against the claims of others is another issue. The best way to prove your ownership is by registration with the US Copyright Office.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 2:38 pm to Champagne
Anymore, the problem isn't getting your songs stolen outright, that doesn't happen much. The problem is usually that another writer hears your song someplace and likes your idea, and writes a different song around it. That happened to me, not too long ago and it was a pretty big hit. I had written that song before the other guy was even born. There's no way to prevent that, if you are putting your songs out to get heard. You can't copyright a general idea.
Posted on 12/28/21 at 3:59 pm to Champagne
I could probably really use some info in this thread. For now I just post them mostly
Posted on 12/28/21 at 10:59 pm to LuciusSulla
quote:
If you have a bunch of stuff you want to copyright cheaply, do it as a compilation on form PA. That's how we used to do our albums. SR is actually protecting the copyright of the recording itself;
It appears that they have revamped the procedure as of March 2019. You can still file a PA or SR via paper but it is more expensive. Instead of filing a PA as a "collection" they now have group registration of either published or unpublished works that can be done online.
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