Copyright House, any good?

N

nothingness

Member
I just found Copyright House that claims they are an international copyright registration office. Has anybody tried it?
Please tell us the pros and cons if you have experience with them.

I also found CISAC, but have no idea about it so far. Need to research from now.
 
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edit: I just noticed your username and see this is a follow-up to your previous copyright post. In that case, I have no new info to give that you don't already have from that thread.

(Original reply follows)

Where are you located?

If you're in the US, the only way to protect your copyright is to register it with the library of congress at eco.copyright.gov.

I don't know how registration works in the UK, but these guys look a little scammy. On the other hand, I couldn't find any official government page that does copyright registration, so it's possible the UK just expects you to use one of these 3rd parties. Or maybe you just need to file it with a notary public. It might be worth asking a lawyer
 
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er, they're all American I think.

I'm interested now Steve. What kind of copyright protection do you get from the library of congress? American law is the same as British - copyright simply exists as soon as you produce a piece of intellectual property. Think back to the old cassette in the unopened mail packet. Legally that was just evidence of existence. Has something changed in the USA? If you produce a piece of music, why do you have to do this old fashioned registration process? If there was a dispute the court would simply want evidence that one party had the product first. Releasing it on Spotify or iTunes would surely be absolute proof with a date and time. Would your courts ignore this and see somebody else's registration at a letter date and take that as the proof of existence? How does this work in practice? The aggregators are pretty essential to get your music out there. Songtradr I think now have over 20 streaming services they place your music with. In the UK we have PRS for composers and PPL for the studios, and you can register recordings with both, but they're not good with streaming. They work fine for radio play and broadcast and sales of CDs, but the aggregators pay me for streaming, with far, far less coming from the rights organisations. If I register a recording with PPL, I get asked if I wish to release it in America, and I get the choice of the organisations mentioned.

Here we also have the intellectual property rights court - this is a version similar to the small claims court, but they handle video, music, photographs, that kind of thing, and if somebody uses intellectual property without permission they can set damages and costs and it can be very expensive getting it wrong. They know how much music and photos cost to licence, and they usually side with the creator. No special registration, but if you have been allocated a unique product code by the aggregator or PPL/PRS that is good enough for music.

In the US, if you don't use that library of congress system to register a work - do you lose your rights? That's not good. Our system here seems, for once, to be very good. I can protect my product in the US and in every other country with one submission. One benefit of our system is that if you produce a cover, subject to a few restrictions, you don't normally need to do anything other than register the original rights holder, with their name as composer and you as arranger. They get 100% of the composition royalties, but you get 100% of the recording royalties - or any split with others you register with PPL.
 
rob aylestone said:
er, they're all American I think.

I'm interested now Steve. What kind of copyright protection do you get from the library of congress? American law is the same as British - copyright simply exists as soon as you produce a piece of intellectual property. Think back to the old cassette in the unopened mail packet. Legally that was just evidence of existence. Has something changed in the USA? If you produce a piece of music, why do you have to do this old fashioned registration process? If there was a dispute the court would simply want evidence that one party had the product first. Releasing it on Spotify or iTunes would surely be absolute proof with a date and time. Would your courts ignore this and see somebody else's registration at a letter date and take that as the proof of existence? How does this work in practice? The aggregators are pretty essential to get your music out there. Songtradr I think now have over 20 streaming services they place your music with. In the UK we have PRS for composers and PPL for the studios, and you can register recordings with both, but they're not good with streaming. They work fine for radio play and broadcast and sales of CDs, but the aggregators pay me for streaming, with far, far less coming from the rights organisations. If I register a recording with PPL, I get asked if I wish to release it in America, and I get the choice of the organisations mentioned.

Here we also have the intellectual property rights court - this is a version similar to the small claims court, but they handle video, music, photographs, that kind of thing, and if somebody uses intellectual property without permission they can set damages and costs and it can be very expensive getting it wrong. They know how much music and photos cost to licence, and they usually side with the creator. No special registration, but if you have been allocated a unique product code by the aggregator or PPL/PRS that is good enough for music.

In the US, if you don't use that library of congress system to register a work - do you lose your rights? That's not good. Our system here seems, for once, to be very good. I can protect my product in the US and in every other country with one submission. One benefit of our system is that if you produce a cover, subject to a few restrictions, you don't normally need to do anything other than register the original rights holder, with their name as composer and you as arranger. They get 100% of the composition royalties, but you get 100% of the recording royalties - or any split with others you register with PPL.
Click to expand...
I probably should have been more clear: I meant "protect" in the sense of being able to bring suit.
Without registering your copyright, you are not able to sue someone for copyright violation. I don't know what happens if you try to register your copyright after you notice a violation, but I suspect it makes the process more difficult.
Yes, technically you own the copyright as soon as you create something and have various protections available (can register with a PRO, collect songwriting and publishing rights, license the work out, etc.) But you can't sue violators.

The so-called "poor man's copyright" of mailing something to yourself has apparently been tried in court a few times and never worked out.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
edit: I just noticed your username and see this is a follow-up to your previous copyright post. In that case, I have no new info to give that you don't already have from that thread.

(Original reply follows)

Where are you located?

If you're in the US, the only way to protect your copyright is to register it with the library of congress at eco.copyright.gov.

I don't know how registration works in the UK, but these guys look a little scammy. On the other hand, I couldn't find any official government page that does copyright registration, so it's possible the UK just expects you to use one of these 3rd parties. Or maybe you just need to file it with a notary public. It might be worth asking a lawyer
Click to expand...
I live in a 3rd country. Actually, I registered my first single to the U.S. Copyright Office in 2018, but I'm not sure they cover it globally. I found another one which is called ProtectMyWork, and it seems they are from the UK as well. Whatever the organization is, my biggest concern is if they really cover my copyright globally. If they do, I'm willing to pay for it.
Plus, this post is different from the previous topic. It was about NFT. Of course, it's related to copyright though.
 
rob aylestone said:
er, they're all American I think.

I'm interested now Steve. What kind of copyright protection do you get from the library of congress? American law is the same as British - copyright simply exists as soon as you produce a piece of intellectual property. Think back to the old cassette in the unopened mail packet. Legally that was just evidence of existence. Has something changed in the USA? If you produce a piece of music, why do you have to do this old fashioned registration process? If there was a dispute the court would simply want evidence that one party had the product first. Releasing it on Spotify or iTunes would surely be absolute proof with a date and time. Would your courts ignore this and see somebody else's registration at a letter date and take that as the proof of existence? How does this work in practice? The aggregators are pretty essential to get your music out there. Songtradr I think now have over 20 streaming services they place your music with. In the UK we have PRS for composers and PPL for the studios, and you can register recordings with both, but they're not good with streaming. They work fine for radio play and broadcast and sales of CDs, but the aggregators pay me for streaming, with far, far less coming from the rights organisations. If I register a recording with PPL, I get asked if I wish to release it in America, and I get the choice of the organisations mentioned.

Here we also have the intellectual property rights court - this is a version similar to the small claims court, but they handle video, music, photographs, that kind of thing, and if somebody uses intellectual property without permission they can set damages and costs and it can be very expensive getting it wrong. They know how much music and photos cost to licence, and they usually side with the creator. No special registration, but if you have been allocated a unique product code by the aggregator or PPL/PRS that is good enough for music.

In the US, if you don't use that library of congress system to register a work - do you lose your rights? That's not good. Our system here seems, for once, to be very good. I can protect my product in the US and in every other country with one submission. One benefit of our system is that if you produce a cover, subject to a few restrictions, you don't normally need to do anything other than register the original rights holder, with their name as composer and you as arranger. They get 100% of the composition royalties, but you get 100% of the recording royalties - or any split with others you register with PPL.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Could you tell me which company/organization you registered to? Or can you recommend some of them? For global coverage.
 
The biggest and probably the best, as they can sort cover licences too is Distrokid. The trouble is that they are impossible to actually talk to, so in my case, one of my pieces of music went from around 100 streams a month to 500K in one day, and by the end of the week hit 5 million. This, they believed was me using some kind of bot system to artificially increase streams. It was actually a crazy Russian girl on tin Tok. I don't do tip Tok so was unaware. They removed every pice of music on line instantly, froze my account and even removed the $69 in the account. There is no appeal. Other than this they were great. It seems this happens quite often, but the vast majority are very happy. I am now using songtradr - very pleased with them, but they do not do cover songs. Record union are OK too, I signed with ditto but they seem a little slow and behind the others, but just as good at getting the material out there. I'm about to try another who claim to be able to reasonable priced licences for covers.

When you release something - there are very common features. They want to know if you have a registration already for the music and if it's been released anywhere before. If you have the registration number you use that. If not, they generate the unique number for you. You tell them about rights. You can be the composer and claim 100% of that royalty and you do the same for the recording - enter 100% or give the names of other people you collaborated with and specify percentages. You can select individual countries, or click on all - and they manage the rights everywhere. This does work - in my reports you see people from all over the world who have streamed your music. If I get payments from the US, I had to fill out a US tax form that says I am not a resident of the US, and the money earned was not earned while I was in the US - once I do this, I get 100% of the payment.

One thing that differs between them is how their money is sorted. Some charge you a yearly fee and then everything earned is yours. Others might want 10% of your earnings with no annual fee - and some charge you for a cover licence - Distrokid did this I seem to remember.

They also put your music on Youtube - not your own YouTube account, but one created by them in your name. Comments automatically disabled, so you cannot manage it or anything, but searching for your name and a title brings it up in searches. You get the money generated - on your own page, you must reach a ceiling to enable monetisation. If I put up my music on my page, I get a message saying this song has a copyright claim from ME! it says any revenue goes to this person, which shows you will get money for it, which I would not have done on my own page. It isn't a copyright strike so is fine.
 
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Distrokid does not register your copyright for you.

A SKU is not a copyright registration.

While DK's service is good for getting your music onto the major streaming platforms. However, if your concern is making sure no one can rip-off your song, that is not a service they offer.

What country are you in @nothingness? Do they have a copyright office or similar government agency?
 
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