I see no point in copyriting my songs. Agree or disagree?

[philips]

I like my songs. I think they are good quality. But I never copyright any of them. Why? Well, I think the chance of anyone stealing my songs, then making a million bucks out of them is 100% ZERO. It just won't happen.

How many completely unknown, never published over 50 years, and likely never to be published, songwriters like myself miss out on a million dollar paycheck because someone stole one of their songs? NONE I reckon......or maybe just 1 or 2 over the past 100 years and 50 billion songs written.

Why bother? I don't care. I'll never, ever be famous. My songs will never, ever sell. Paul McCartney is "almost" as good a songwriter as me, but he got lucky with the $$$$$$$$ and I didn't. That's life. Hi Paulie, how's Ringo going these days?

 

[ashcat_lt]

You own the rights to your material no matter what. If it ever becomes an issue, you will have to show some proof that you wrote/performed/recorded it first. The point of registering the copyright with the office is basically to get that part out of the way before it becomes an issue and you end up having to scramble for evidence.

The question arises: How big of an issue you do you really expect it to be? If you actually think that somebody is going to take your shit and sell a million records....

For my part I don't expect anybody to ever want to appropriate my shit for anything. :/ Nor do I really expect to break even let alone make money at this. I don't really believe that "rights" are a thing to begin with, and don't expect to be suing anybody any time soon, so I just save the filing fee.

 

[miroslav]

I like my songs. I think they are good quality. But I never copyright any of them. Why? Well, I think the chance of anyone stealing my songs, then making a million bucks out of them is 100% ZERO. It just won't happen.

How many completely unknown, never published over 50 years, and likely never to be published, songwriters like myself miss out on a million dollar paycheck because someone stole one of their songs? NONE I reckon......or maybe just 1 or 2 over the past 100 years and 50 billion songs written.

Why bother? I don't care. I'll never, ever be famous. My songs will never, ever sell. Paul McCartney is "almost" as good a songwriter as me, but he got lucky with the $$$$$$$$ and I didn't. That's life. Hi Paulie, how's Ringo going these days?

Not that I think you are wrong about never making it big...I mean, it's a long shot for most of us...but your overall attitude is pretty negative. I think with that initial viewpoint, you give up before you even start.

Anyway...I do copyright everything that I put out publicly. Songs that never make the cut, I don't.
I don't do that just out of fear of theft or loss of "millions"... ...I do it as part of the whole songwriting, recording, mixing, distributing process.
If you are not putting any of your songs out publicly, on any kind of distribution vehicle (be it Soundcloud or actual CDs at gigs)...then I can see not bothering. Otherwise, I think it's a way to complete a public release project.
Most people gripe about the cost per song to register...but when you consider all the other expenses associated with being a musician and recording...it's not that much, really.
Also...they have the "bulk" registration option...where you can register a whole bunch of songs as a collection/compilation...for one price, instead of individually. Only downside...if any legal stuff ever came up on one of the songs, you would have to re-register it individually...but at least as a collection, you have them registered.
Oh...and you can do it all electronically now...which is cheaper/faster than sending in hardcopy.

YMMV...

 

[jimmys69]

I'm not sure I have had anyone give a crap about copyrighting lyrics that have recorded in my studio. Most of them embed the ISRC codes to their songs in mastering though. That pretty much takes care of any issue if someone tries to steal your song. Plus if you ever did create a hit that makes money, they know who to send the check to.

I have no clue as to the legalities of this. But it is cheap. Like $95 for the registrants code and that allows 100,000 codes a year.

 

[mjbphotos]

Do you buy insurance for your house? Or do you just figure 'the chances of it catching fire - or whatever - are like 1 in a million, so look how much money I can save'? That's what some people think regarding flood insurance too ...
For $50 (in the US) you can copyright your whole album at one time - you are not releasing your music publicly in any way, then don't bother - so for $3-4 per song, its done. I don't think you need to re-copyright the song singly if ever a legal issue arises, each song is covered in itself by the group copyright (but I'm not a lawyer).

 

[Bobbsy]

As I understand it, the USA makes the issue of copyright a bit more problematic. In the UK, if you say something is copyright and can prove the date you wrote or performed it (an unopened registered letter is sufficient) then you have a firm copyright.

To some extent the same applies in the USA but then it gets confusing with the need to pay money to register things at a government Copyright Office.

So...doing it for free (or at least just the cost of putting a CD or written music in the post to yourself) is certainly worth it. Pay good money? There's no right answer.

 

[rob aylestone]

Perfectly fine, thousands of people produce things and have no interest in protection. Others think differently. We never get wound up on rules and systems. We often get very wound up when people abuse them. That is totally different and VERY important.

Some people don't bother with home insurance either. They've never had floods or winds, so they can cope.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Do you buy insurance for your house? Or do you just figure 'the chances of it catching fire - or whatever - are like 1 in a million, so look how much money I can save'? That's what some people think regarding flood insurance too ...

That's a good metaphor for it. If you're at all concerned about your songs being stolen, it's worth a few dozen bucks to copyright them. If you'd be equally happy with them being stolen and you getting nothing from it, then go ahead and skip copyright.

Also, Poor-man's copyright definitely doesn't work in the USA. Google it.

 

[joey2000]

Why bother? I don't care. I'll never, ever be famous. My songs will never, ever sell. Paul McCartney is "almost" as good a songwriter as me, but he got lucky with the $$$$$$$$ and I didn't. That's life. Hi Paulie, how's Ringo going these days?

lol

Yep, if you feel that sure, definitely don't bother.

You own the rights to your material no matter what. If it ever becomes an issue, you will have to show some proof that you wrote/performed/recorded it first.

In other words, you don't really own the rights "no matter what" because as you said, you must be able to prove it, and as someone else pointed out, proof other than a copyright/etc is dicey at best, at least in the U.S.

For my part I don't expect anybody to ever want to appropriate my shit for anything. :/

lol - me either. And I doubt I will ever even make it public. But I plan to copyright anyway. It's not about money, I just like the assurance (even more remote at least) that what's mine is mine. I'm very (very) possessive.

Only downside...if any legal stuff ever came up on one of the songs, you would have to re-register it individually

Pretty sure that's not true, but I am curious to know where you got that.

Some people don't bother with home insurance either. They've never had floods or winds, so they can cope.

Exceedingly few people don't have home insurance, if for no other reason than pretty much all banks or other institutions that finance a mortgage require it, so not quite the same thing.

Anyway, great replies. A couple of side notes: copyrights cost $35 per submission. Also, one might consider the alternative of registering with a PRO. Info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_rights_organisation

Not the same as a copyright, but IMO likely to be sufficient to prove ownership should anything come up. Plus some are free.