How to copyright a song?

[Rascalcurve]

Well..my guitar teacher gave me some instruction on copyrighting one of my songs. I am a little confused, can someone streamline the process for me? He said for me to go online then pay $45 somewhere..blah, blah. I am in the dark.

Thanks.

[Taioki]

I hear you can go the infinitely cheap route (this is just what I've read and heard) by recording it then sending it to your self via postal service in a sealed package with a date inside, and if anything comes up you can take it out and claim whats yours.

I'm not exactly sure if this is true, the more structured way is unknown to me, so I'm not really any help.

[waynep]

If you search this forum, I remember seeing it discussed before . . . .

wayne

[dberch]

The "poor man's copyright" only guarantees you crying rights. It will not hold up in a court of law.

Everything you need to know is right here. http://www.copyright.gov/
And pretty will laid out, too, for a goverenment site.


Good luck!

[GeographyRocks]

You get copyright, presumably, as soon as you can prove you've made something. But as someone said, it's better to pay to get it done officially, especially if you intend on making money from it. No-one can argue with legal documentation, in a sense. However, I have no idea how that works over in the US, but I hope I helped anyway.

[Chicago Sandy]

Originally Posted by Taioki

I hear you can go the infinitely cheap route (this is just what I've read and heard) by recording it then sending it to your self via postal service in a sealed package with a date inside, and if anything comes up you can take it out and claim whats yours.

I'm not exactly sure if this is true, the more structured way is unknown to me, so I'm not really any help.

NO!!! That, known as "poor man's copyright," is BULLS***!!!

(Sorry for the rant, but this keeps coming up ad nauseam on Indiegrrl and GoGirls Music).

The "sealed-envelope-mail-to-yourself" ploy proves only that the envelope itself--and not the contents, since envelopes can be easily and undetectibly opened and resealed--was postmarked on the date and at the post office branch stamped on it. Nothing else even *on* the envelope--not the return address, not the address, not even a list of the contents--proves ANYTHING. It is a waste of time, paper and postage.

Truth is, your copyright exists from the moment you place your creation in a "fixed medium" (e.g., tape, CD, handwritten, typed) and make it available (even show it or play it) to anyone else. If you do not expect to file or defend against a copyright infringement lawsuit, or if you do not expect to have anyone else record your song and pay you royalties, you need do nothing more than place the copyright notice ("© year, by your name") on all written, printed and recorded copies of it--and all that does is let people know you are the copyright holder; your copyright exists regardless of the notice.

BUT, if you want to protect yourself against infringement, or against accusations of infringement, and/or want to be able to collect "mechanical royalties" if someone "covers" your song ("performance," or airplay, royalties need--in practicality, even if not legally--registration with one of the performance rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or in Canada SOCAN), then you need to have an absolute, prima facie proof of the date of copyright--and the only foolproof, universally legally admissible evidence of that is registration with the U.S. Coyright Office. You can fill out the forms online, print them out and send them in with your recording (if you want to copyright the recording, too, which does not cost extra--if you don't, and have only a lead sheet for the melody, that'll do) and lyric sheets (if any), and $45 check. If you are anal-retentive, do it at the Post Office and get a "proof of mailing" so you can have your own record of when you sent it in. You can do the green-postcard return-receipt thing too, but what if you never get that postcard back? With a "proof of mailing" receipt you have instant proof of when and to whom it was mailed. It can take 4-6 months to get it processed and receive your registration number; the USCO recognizes that and considers the effective date of your application to be the day they receive it (and the law considers that to be the day you deposit it in the US Mail, proper postage affixed, or with a recognized private carrier with all fees duly paid).

What if you have a dozen songs to copyright? You can do a separate $45 registration for each, but you can also record them for that single fee as an anthology. If you do that, make sure you keep a copy of the application listing each song, and when the registration number finally arrives, write it on that copy (and you might want to keep a separate log of what song was part of which anthology and under which number it is registered--you'll need that if you want to register the song with a performance rights org. in order to be eligible to be paid periodic airplay royalties.

Meanwhile, the Harry Fox Agency monitors all USCO copyright registrations; if anyone records your song (you have the right to deny permission ONLY if it has never been recorded for commercial availabilty by you or anyone else--after that you are deemed to have granted a statutory "compulsory license"), they need to go to the HFA's website, search for the copyright, and buy a license (currently 8.2 cents per copy manufactured of the song--not per copy actually sold--with a minimum of 500 copies; for amounts over 5000 copies there is a sliding scale). The HFA will then take a small administrative cut and mail you a check.

A reality-check: the vast majority of songwriters today are in far greater danger of never being heard than we are of being ripped off.

[dberch]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

the vast majority of songwriters today are in far greater danger of never being heard than we are of being ripped off.

True, but with the internet and podcasts and all that, having your stuff copyrighted may allow you a nice surprise income someday.

I have a song on GarageBand.com that's been inluded in dozens of podcasts/playlists, etc. If those were playing on radio, I'd be entitled to royatlies each time it was played. They may never get to the point of collecting royalties for internet use, but you never know....

[Rascalcurve]

Thank you for the replies guys...I will go ChiSandy's route, if my guit teacher thinks that I should get it protected, I guess I better listen.

I really like the song, it is "hooky" and easy to sing. I just wish I could use more chords to make it sound fuller..it seems to be lacking in some fills. I am sooo green with all this.

[sirflyguy2000]

Acoustic Guitar magazine just arrived in the mail (Taj Mahal on the cover), and it has a whole article on this subject with all the contact info.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

...What if you have a dozen songs to copyright? You can do a separate $45 registration for each, but you can also record them for that single fee as an anthology.

Hi Sandy...
I have a friend who did that, and he copyrighted four in one group. A recording group decided to use all of them on an album they were recording and only had to pay him one fee for use of all four on the album.

This would be the limitation of recording what you refer to as an anthology, correct?

[utah]

My own personal opinion is that for most folks...copyrighting a tune is a waste of $45. At least up until you record the song yourself, and get it out there in the public domain where people might hear it ( and possibly steal it ).

I just don't see how anyone is going to steal a song that hasn't been recorded, and isn't being heard. Perhaps it makes some sense to copyright a song if you've recorded it, and you are starting to place it online etc for folks to here.

However, Even when songs are recorded, what are the 'realistic' chances that someone is going to steal it? Even if someone does steal it, what are the realistic chances that you're going to 'win' a lawsuit for copyright infringement...and do you have the dollars necessary to launch such a lawsuit in the first place? Plus, if you have recorded the tune...and posted it, and distributed it....you might have enough to establish your 'copyright' anyways...should you decide to sue someone.

Of course, folks are free to do what they want....but, I think it's safe to say that most successful recording artists like to write their own music ( so they aren't looking to rip someone off ) and those that use songwriters as a resource to find recordable material, tend to stick with established professional songwriters who are capable of writing 'hits'.

Just my two cents.

[frankenstein]

when i put some of my tunes up on soundclick.com, i got a 'creative commons' copyright...haven't heard anyone mention this route so far, and i'm not very knowledgable about it, but it's something along the lines of intellectual property...again, don't know how it would hold up in court, and i'm honestly not too concerned about that, but the songs appear with my name and the copyright symbol next to them...so at least somewhere on earth, i am credited as the 'owner' of the songs...you might want to do a search about 'creative commons' and 'intellectual property'...

[jsmarshall]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

NO!!! That, known as "poor man's copyright," is BULLS***!!!

(Sorry for the rant, but this keeps coming up ad nauseam on Indiegrrl and GoGirls Music).

The "sealed-envelope-mail-to-yourself" ploy proves only that the envelope itself--and not the contents, since envelopes can be easily and undetectibly opened and resealed--was postmarked on the date and at the post office branch stamped on it. Nothing else even *on* the envelope--not the return address, not the address, not even a list of the contents--proves ANYTHING. It is a waste of time, paper and postage.

Truth is, your copyright exists from the moment you place your creation in a "fixed medium" (e.g., tape, CD, handwritten, typed) and make it available (even show it or play it) to anyone else. If you do not expect to file or defend against a copyright infringement lawsuit, or if you do not expect to have anyone else record your song and pay you royalties, you need do nothing more than place the copyright notice ("© year, by your name") on all written, printed and recorded copies of it--and all that does is let people know you are the copyright holder; your copyright exists regardless of the notice.

BUT, if you want to protect yourself against infringement, or against accusations of infringement, and/or want to be able to collect "mechanical royalties" if someone "covers" your song ("performance," or airplay, royalties need--in practicality, even if not legally--registration with one of the performance rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or in Canada SOCAN), then you need to have an absolute, prima facie proof of the date of copyright--and the only foolproof, universally legally admissible evidence of that is registration with the U.S. Coyright Office. You can fill out the forms online, print them out and send them in with your recording (if you want to copyright the recording, too, which does not cost extra--if you don't, and have only a lead sheet for the melody, that'll do) and lyric sheets (if any), and $45 check. If you are anal-retentive, do it at the Post Office and get a "proof of mailing" so you can have your own record of when you sent it in. You can do the green-postcard return-receipt thing too, but what if you never get that postcard back? With a "proof of mailing" receipt you have instant proof of when and to whom it was mailed. It can take 4-6 months to get it processed and receive your registration number; the USCO recognizes that and considers the effective date of your application to be the day they receive it (and the law considers that to be the day you deposit it in the US Mail, proper postage affixed, or with a recognized private carrier with all fees duly paid).

What if you have a dozen songs to copyright? You can do a separate $45 registration for each, but you can also record them for that single fee as an anthology. If you do that, make sure you keep a copy of the application listing each song, and when the registration number finally arrives, write it on that copy (and you might want to keep a separate log of what song was part of which anthology and under which number it is registered--you'll need that if you want to register the song with a performance rights org. in order to be eligible to be paid periodic airplay royalties.

Meanwhile, the Harry Fox Agency monitors all USCO copyright registrations; if anyone records your song (you have the right to deny permission ONLY if it has never been recorded for commercial availabilty by you or anyone else--after that you are deemed to have granted a statutory "compulsory license"), they need to go to the HFA's website, search for the copyright, and buy a license (currently 8.2 cents per copy manufactured of the song--not per copy actually sold--with a minimum of 500 copies; for amounts over 5000 copies there is a sliding scale). The HFA will then take a small administrative cut and mail you a check.

A reality-check: the vast majority of songwriters today are in far greater danger of never being heard than we are of being ripped off.

Absolutely 100% true. My Intellectual Property class just covered this last week. The lawyer said every band he's ever represented has told him this trick, and he laughs at them every time. Your first step is to record it in a tangible medium. Then, contact the PTO (patent and trademark office) about how to register it. If you're not performing or putting out a cd why pay the money to register it? You'll still have rights, just not the ability for things like punitive damages. Who needs those anyways?

[Rodger]

Nice article on this topic in the latest edition of Acoustic Guitar. They point you to the copyright link mentioned above in addition to explaining your options and rights. Explains that you can copyright a song or collection of songs or the Sound Recording, or both. Good article.

link to the website article is here:

http://www.acousticguitar.com/articl...HERESHOW-1.asp

[NCguitar]

ok .. postal or "poor mans" copyright only allows you to serve "cease and desist" on a person or company using your works .. in other word .. NO COMPENSATION or as they call it "recoupment" ..
and technically it states that once its in some form of "media" like a cd or dvd .. that's the date of copyright .. so .. a cd laying around the house that has a creation date .. will serve as proof .. just that .. AGAIN no recoupment.
you can copyright more than one song if you present it as a "project" and list the contents .. they'll provide a continuation sheet if you need to list several songs etc .. (maybe there are 3 contributers .. but to different areas of the works) ..
ALSO i downloaded a copy of the paperwork in pdf format and used adobe acrobat Pro (only way to do that as far as i know)
this makes it really easy to read .. looks very professional .. and it may help it get processed faster ... ALSO the document you send in will be the document you get back .. so .. if you intend on framing it etc .. you should type in all your data and it will look a million times better.
also a really good idea to set up your own publishing company ..
it's no harder than opening a hotdog stand .. and if warner bro's meets you in walmart and wants to use your stuff for one of their artists .. you have to take it to a publisher ... OR your could be the publisher .. and keep that portion of the profit ..
anyway gotta run .. hope this helps
jeff