Copywriting 101 ...

[Big Fat Sammy]

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.???

As far as music goes...it can be done 2 ways.

1) Registered by individual SONG

2) Registered colective works (a group of songs on an album)

Number 2 is much cheaper.

Then there are two more options, one is for unpublished and one for published works but I forgot the details involving these.

BTW a copywrite is automatically created when it becomes a tangible form, a tape or cd for example. I have talked to the library of congress about this. They will scream at you if you dispute this...lol

[Big Train]

Originally posted by smaz


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.

THis is NOT acceptable, as it has been used in court in several cases and not been "proof" of anything.

And yes, I second that we all spell "COPYRIGHT" correctly if we are gonna discuss this..

[smaz]

So you own the song, no matter what format? Not the format the song is in....

[Cathedral]

We always submitted a cassette tape with 3 songs on them in their final form along with the lyrics written on a seperate piece of paper for clearity in case they were hard to figure out.

And we included the names of any member that co-authored them.

None of our stuff was ever published, so i have no info on that aspect.

But still, even though it becomes a tangible work at the time of creation, it has to be registered if you want all the rights to the work.
Otherwise it becomes the property of whoever has possession of the tape, and if there are copies floating around, who can prove when it was created?

REGISTER THE SHIT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

LMMFAO...

[Big Fat Sammy]

If I remeber correctly...if it is a published work when registered, and someone sues or you sue over infrigment, then the court costs are covered.

And they told me to sell 1 copy, and it is a published work.


But people get registered copyrighted music stolen, and they can't do anything about it...its the bottom line. If there was no thievery, then HIP HOP wouldn't exist. Musicians have better things to do than sit in court....remember Funky Cold Medina?

[Big Train]

Originally posted by smaz
So you own the song, no matter what format? Not the format the song is in....

Look, you have to copyright both things, if published, only the work itself if not. If it's not published, there really isn't much to infringe on, so general rule of thumb is it is protected at creation.

If you going to put a CD out, publish or whatever, you need to fill out form SR for the sound recording itself (protect against samples) and the underlying work with form PA.

If not, don't bother or worry about, nobody can infringe on something that isn't widely distributed (although I understand the Internet can change that).

The big thing to keep in mind is that even if you do copyright something, that does not automatically mean something that sounds similar is infringing.

[GAR]

IS your website up yet..

[Eyes of the Night]

Bizump!