Copywriting 101 ...

[Eyes of the Night]

and coming back the next week saying, hey check out my new car!" -EVH on two hand tapping ...


Fookin' love that quote ... used to be in my fav sig for at least 2 years ...


so with that I hand it off too whomever wants the first dab into this utmost non ripping off yer shit topic ever ...


Okay I have a question ... band names ... same type of deal with CWing yer music? Fill out a form, pay a small fee, send it in to a publishing wharehouse?, and bizam you're money on that riff ti'll the cows come home!? ... lol


Oooh ,... CAT, sticky this sum bitch! If not I'll have Pana on yer ass to do it! ... buwahahaha ... kiddin' ...

[Cathedral]

Nope, it will cost substantially more to own a name than copywriting music.
And unless there is a need to do it i can't imagine it being a smart move financially.
Plus there is a lot more legal redtape involved.

A band is a business and you as a group have to define what percetage of ownership each mamber has.

The most popular is "Sole Proprietorship".

Sole Proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is a "business" that is owned (and usually operated) by one person. Sole proprietorship is the simplest form of business ownership and the easiest to start. My recommendation to you is that each one of you opens up his own business - a sole proprietorship.

What's good about it?

Ease and Law Cost of formation:
No contracts, agreements, or other legal documents are required to start a sole proprietorship. A state and city license is required, but beyond that, a sole proprietor pays no special start-up fees or taxes.

Retention of All Profits:
Any profits earned by a sole proprietorship become the personal earnings of the sole proprietor.

Possible Tax Advantages:
The sole proprietorship's profits are taxed as personal income of the owner. Thus a sole proprietorship does not pay the special state and federal income taxes that corporations pay.

What's bad about it?

Unlimited Liability:
Unlimited liability is a legal concept that holds a sole proprietor personally responsible for all the debts of his or her business. This means that if the business fails, the owner's personal property can be seized (and sold if necessary) to pay creditors.

Partnership
Often a partnership represents a "pooling of special skills and talents-" at other times it results when a sole proprietor takes on a partner for the purpose of "obtaining more capital."

What's good about it?

Ease and Low Cost of formation:
Like sole proprietorships, partnerships are relatively easy to form The legal requirements are often limited to registering the name of the business and purchasing any necessary licenses or permits.

Retention of Profits:
As in a sole proprietorship, all profits belong to the owners of the partnership.

Combined Skills and Knowledge:
Partners often have complementary skills. The weakness of one partner may be the strength of another partner. And, the ability to discuss important decisions with another concerned person often takes some of the pressure off everyone and leads to more effective decision making.

Possible Tax Advantages:
Like sole proprietors, partners are taxed only on their individual incomes from the business. The special taxes that corporations must pay are not imposed on partnerships. Also, at certain levels of income, the new federal tax rates are lower for individuals than for corporations.

What's bad about it?

Unlimited Liability:
Each (general) partner is personally responsible for an debts of the business, even if that particular partner did not incur those debts. They thus run the risk of having to use their personal assets to pay creditors. It is essential that each partner understand that he or she is responsible for the other partners' actions.

Corporation
The corporation is an artificial person created by law, with most of the legal rights of a real person. These include the rights to start and operate a business, to own or dispose of property, to borrow money, to sue or be sued, and to enter into binding contracts. Unlike a real person, however, a corporation exists only on paper.

The shares of ownership of a corporation are called its stock. And the people who own a corporation's stock are called its stockholder, or sometimes its shareholders. Once a corporation has been formed, it may sell its stock to individuals.

What's good about it?

Limited Liability:
One of the most attractive features of corporate ownership is limited liability. With few exceptions, each owner's financial liability is limited to the amount of money she or he has paid for the corporation's stock.

What's bad about it?

Difficulty and Expense of Formation:
Forming a corporation can be a relatively complex and costly process. The costs of incorporating, in both time and money, discourage many owners of smaller businesses from forming corporations.

Government Regulation:
Most government regulation of business is directed at corporations. A corporation must meet various government standards before it can sell its stock to the public. Then it must file many reports on its business operations and finances with local, state, and federal governments. In addition, the corporation must make periodic reports to its stockholders about various aspects of the business. Also, its activities are restricted by law to those spelled out in its charter.

Double Taxation:
Unlike sole proprietorships and partnerships, corporations must pay a tax on their profits. Then stockholders must pay a personal income tax on profits received as dividends.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Nope, it will cost substantially more to own a name than copywriting music.
And unless there is a need to do it i can't imagine it being a smart move financially.
Plus there is a lot more legal redtape involved.

A band name is a trademark and trademarks have to be renewed every so many years.

True!

Plus, there´s a difference in expenses if you want it registered internationally etc.

It´s only worth it if your band is starting to get somewhere!

[Cathedral]

Eye's, write some music, get out and play, see how much money you can make before even thinking of this avenue.

I have been in some pretty profitable bands in my day, and we never even got close to needing to take this route.
Our only trouble was when we were called "Prodigy", and then a band came from overseas called that and could have shut us down if we had even been a blip on their radar.

For awhile we thought we were getting there, but turns out that the people were referring to the other band, lol.

People still to this day say "You were in prodigy?" whenever i mention the version i was in.
In some ways i infringed on their rights because i actually used it to my advantage when booking gigs, lol.

[Eyes of the Night]

Kick ass CAT!!! ... how can I be the man when you da man!? ... fuck yeah, so now I know ...

What if we get signed right off the bat though eh? ... I do like to each his own ... it's worth the loss of property seized in the end for me ... cept for my rig! ...

The 2 of us are banking on the fact that all we ever played and wrote was original music ... which will help being, well original than all ... niiice ...

So yeah, busting out this dream "for reals" up here after we record the ton of music we have at a fire engine yard ... fire station something something ...

35 bucks an hour to get it recorded even produced ... more like pointers in this and that being that BT is a natural at producing what this is all since high school ...

High Energy Grunge ... lmfa, all dropped D shit ...

There's still that window though and if passed am going to finish shit that I started ... no pun ... but yeah ITT ...

[Cathedral]

If you get signed, read what your signing before you sign it.

But contact the library of congress for copywrite forms and own your stuff before you give it to the peeps.

The forms will be sent to you free, but you have to pay to register the works.

We have been ripped off by ex-members before, just glad they never went anywhere as groups or i'd be doing time for murder right now, no shit.
That's why i don't post music here anymore, unless it's a cover tune.
If a good friend will rip you off, or attempt to anyway, a stranger will have no trouble at all making it on your sweat.

[Cathedral]

Here's your homework assignment for the week.

Copyright Office

[Seshmeister]

Which one of you owns the rights to this new way of spelling copyright?

[Eyes of the Night]

buwahahaha!!! Good one Sesh, the humanspellchecker never miises a typo ... glad to see you around there pimp daddy ... howz yer kid!? 2 almost now? ... mines freakin' 7!!!


Cat, I don't do homework ... I'll save it though ...

[GAR]

Usually one needs the media they wish to copyright first, not the other way around.

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
Which one of you owns the rights to this new way of spelling copyright?

Whatever are you talking about, Sesh, lol.

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by GAR
Usually one needs the media they wish to copyright first, not the other way around.

You have a point there Mr.Gar, Sir.

[smaz]

From reading parts of info...

It says that when you create something, it is copyrighted to you from that point. You do not need to register it. All it says is to add the international (C) sign onto the document, aswell as the author and possibly date.

So, if you record a song, stick it on the net, add a copyright notice, you should be ok?

Also, as a cheaper way of copyrighting, send yourself the 'document' by a recorded/special delivery, and don't open it. That way you have the recording in there, with the date clearly stamped on it by an official source - the post office. So, should someone take your recording, you can take them to court, and that is proof of when you created it.

[Cathedral]

You can't claim copyright infringement if you don't own a legal copyright.
having a package sent to you proves it existed and it can display a date and author, but if you don't own the actual copyright you can't file a suit in a court of law for infringement if someone steals it.

You can however use it to defend yourself if someone sue's you for infringement. The poor mans way is one sided in that sense.
If someone takes you to court, and owns a copyright for indentical works and your post marked works prove that you had possession first, then they will lose the case but you can't collect any damages because you don't own the copyright for said works.

You have to register the works through the copyright office if you want full ownership of them.

[smaz]

Just out of interest...

What is it you're actually copyrighting? The song itself, the riffs and lyrics etc., or the format it's in so that nobody can copy the recording and use it as their own, to make a profit etc. etc.???