Copywriting my song(s)

[Crazy]

Hi people,
eeehm, i aint got the money now to get copyright on my lyrics..
so i readed somewhere else that i could mail it to myself,
so if something get stoled, i could say its mine..
so i made an paper with informaton like:


Song made by:
man/woman:
emails(s):
Date: (date i made this so they could know when i mailed it to myself)
Adress:
Country:
Phone nr:
Signature: (my sign.)
Lyric nr: (1, 2, 3...)
Song title:
Description: (song description)
Date lyric started: (that they know when i started writing)
Date lyric ended: (that they know when i ended writing)
Xtra: (like a cd with the song on it)

and on the right the text of the song.



could i do this untill i've got the money to get © on it???
and is there something i could add on this list??

Crazy

[Mr T]

Yes you can as long as you keep the envelope sealed when you receive it. I usually send a cd of my songs to myself recorded delivery.

[Crazy]

thank you

[Apple]

I've heard sending a registered letter to yourself won't stand up in court. A dated email would probably be as good to establish precedent. The copyright law states that your work belongs to you in the moment of creation. And, if your work goes out into the public domain without the copyright notice, you could potentially lose the rights to your work.

[Mr Nice]

I thought that poor mans copyright would work too, but it can be faked! And I also heard that it wont stand up in court, but it has never actually been tested. My understanding is that it would be totally up to a judge whether "mailing yourself a copy" to be admissable or not. I wouldnt take that chance at all, so click the link below and decide if you would still consider "mailing yourself a copy".

Click Here to see all about the "poor man's copyright"

Hope this helps!

[philboyd studge]

I've never heard of a case where a poor man's copyright held up in court.

All the info you need is here - http://www.copyright.gov/

[Rokket]

Why not just copyright it? I've done it, and you can find the form on line and it only costs $30.00. All you have to do is record it, burn it to CD, and enclose a copy of the CD with the application. If you want to just copyright the lyrics, it's even cheaper. Don't take chances. Copyright.... just my two cents.

[rjt]

This topic has been covered a number of times:
http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...d.php?t=118050
http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...ight=copyright

Click on some of the links in the links above for even more info.

The bottom line (IMHO) is that mailing to yourself is an old wive's tale... doesn't work at all (even with registered mail). (In the past whenever someone wrote that it doesn't work someone else would write in that their father used that method or a law student friend of theirs said it would be fine.... great, if you want to trust your masterpiece to that, enjoy!!) A web search of sites devoted to copyrights indicates 1) some say it works (a few not many say that), 2) more say it doesn't work, but do it if you want to and 3) most say, don't bother with it. I think that in one of the links I posted, I listed 3 or 4 sites that are devoted to copyright law and they generally suggest not to use the mail to yourself method. But, people will do what they want to do , so.......

Take Care

[GQSmoove]

Better safe then sorry. PAy the $30 dollars but make sure you fit as many songs as possible onto one CD to make a compilation.

[Rokket]

Originally Posted by GQSmoove

Better safe then sorry. PAy the $30 dollars but make sure you fit as many songs as possible onto one CD to make a compilation.

You have to register each song separately. Says so on the application. You can send in a compilation, but you'll need a separate application for each song, and $30.00 for each. Like I said, I've done it...

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted by Rokket

You have to register each song separately. Says so on the application. You can send in a compilation, but you'll need a separate application for each song, and $30.00 for each. Like I said, I've done it...

I am looking at Form PA and Form SR right now and I dont see where it says "use one application per song" From what I understand you can compile a bunch of tracks onto one application. I and a few friends have successfully done that before in the past.

[RickW]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice

I am looking at Form PA and Form SR right now and I dont see where it says "use one application per song" From what I understand you can compile a bunch of tracks onto one application. I and a few friends have successfully done that before in the past.

This is correct. You can copyright a whole CD as a compilation, but the compilation has to have one title. Also, if you try to market any song off of that compilation, or if someone is granted use of one of those songs, that individual song will have to be re-copyrighted on it's own. It's not a problem because the song already technically has a copyright, it's just that the initial copyright is under the title of the compilation, and you would have to copyright the song as it's own title. Pretty sure that's how it works, but I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV.

[philboyd studge]

Originally Posted by RickW

This is correct. You can copyright a whole CD as a compilation, but the compilation has to have one title. Also, if you try to market any song off of that compilation, or if someone is granted use of one of those songs, that individual song will have to be re-copyrighted on it's own. It's not a problem because the song already technically has a copyright, it's just that the initial copyright is under the title of the compilation, and you would have to copyright the song as it's own title. Pretty sure that's how it works, but I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV.

First, it's a copyright the moment you've written your work, the problem is proving it. The only thing that will hold up in US courts is a registered copyright. Compilations are fine, generally I keep them to CD length or 70 minutes or so and under a central title like 'Songs Of Arabia' or something. You can later register an individual song from a compilation if you feel the need.

Count on the process to take six months if everything goes smoothly, these days however they are zapping the heck out of packages in DC and about a third of what I've sent in in the last two years has had to be resent. They even lost a TX registration (book) and I had to send more copies last week.

[Rokket]

Originally Posted by RickW

This is correct. You can copyright a whole CD as a compilation, but the compilation has to have one title. Also, if you try to market any song off of that compilation, or if someone is granted use of one of those songs, that individual song will have to be re-copyrighted on it's own. It's not a problem because the song already technically has a copyright, it's just that the initial copyright is under the title of the compilation, and you would have to copyright the song as it's own title. Pretty sure that's how it works, but I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV.

I guess I misread it. It only took me 2 months to get mine back. I guess I got lucky. Thanks for clearing up my mistake, Rick!