How do i protect my music?

[Logicman991]

I've read many places that music automatically is protected and doesn't need any copyright protection. Is that true? And does that include the whole world or just USA?

 

[moresound]

I found my shotgun works just fine for protecting my music

But seriously I believe if you publish your music there will be no competition for it but to do it right in the US it has to be done through the library of congress they have all the copyrighting paper work at their web site.

 

[Chili]

I've read many places that music automatically is protected and doesn't need any copyright protection. Is that true? And does that include the whole world or just USA?

Not quite right. Yes, you're music is automatically copyrighted, meaning you own the rights to whatever you create as soon as it is in a tangible form; like written on paper or recorded to a CD, tape, etc. No, it's not fully protected at that point. This is what registering your copyright is all about. This provides the proof that you would need in a court of law if you ever have to sue someone for copyright infringement.

If you register in the US with the Copyright Office, your registration is valid where ever that registration is recognized by international agreements, or whatevers. That's most of the world.

I know of people who do not live in the US yet still register their songs with the US Copyrght Office as well as their home country's registry. I don't know why they do.

 

[miroslav]

The key benefit to registration is that it makes any future legal dispute easier to deal with since you established an *official* time/date stamp and copy of your work.
If you wait for a legal dispute to come up, you will STILL have to register the work in order to follow through on the dispute, and then you will have to find other means of proving retroactively when you actually created your work...etc.

Yeah...these days we have a lot of electronic "proof"...but IMO, a registered copyright is the way to go if you feel you music is important enough to you to protect.

 

[grimtraveller]

I know of people who do not live in the US yet still register their songs with the US Copyrght Office as well as their home country's registry. I don't know why they do.

Coz, Chili my man, the US of A has clout.
The US of A exudes POWER !!
A smart cookie alligns themselves with where they feel the 'going concern' is.

 

[Logicman991]

I've wondered about this because there are so many people that share their music on forums like this, and probably without any protection on the songs. And they don't seem afraid at all for someone to steal their work

I know, who the heck steals others musical ideas anyway? That's just pathetic. But you can never be 100% sure.

 

[moresound]

I've been told that if you send your music through the mail -registered-this will be enough but this is only urban lure as far as I'm concerned.

 

[miroslav]

...many people that share their music on forums like this, and probably without any protection on the songs. And they don't seem afraid at all for someone to steal their work

Well...you have to take into account the quality/type of the music they are putting up on the Internet.

I know, who the heck steals others musical ideas anyway? That's just pathetic. But you can never be 100% sure.

There have been enough big cases with MILLIONS of $$$ at stake.
Sure...most people are not looking for music to steal and call their own...BUT...someone may "accidentally" steal something (or part of something) they subliminally heard on the Internet "airwaves".
It might be a killer lick or bass line...something very identifiable, and someone else picks up on it *unintentionally*---cuts a major record off it---makes a ton of $$$---and then gets sued by the original songwriter.
And that's when proof of ownership/time of creation becomes key.

I think if you are doing a lot "oddball" (I mean that in a nice way) music...you are probably safe for the most part. But if your music hits heavily on typical Rock/Pop/Country/Hip Hop/Rap/R&B grooves/roots...there IS a chance it could find its way into someone else's music if it’s just floating around the Internet…so you might want to protect you music if you feel it has strong marketing/selling potential, as that IS really the heart of the issue…does it have sales potential or not…in ANY genre/venue.
If you think it does…protect it.

You can copyright online now…$35/song…or you can do “collections” of songs as one title for the same price, you just won’t get individual certs for each of them, and if ever a dispute, you have to re-register the song(s) in question, individually…but, you’ve already established their ownership and time of creation.

 

[miroslav]

I've been told that if you send your music through the mail -registered-this will be enough but this is only urban lure as far as I'm concerned.

I use to do that along WITH the copyright...way back.

Thing is...I looked at some of my register mail envelops, with cassettes inside...and after 20-30 years...some of them were pealing open on their own because the glue just dried out...etc...not to mention, it's not too hard to steam open envelopes and then reseal them.

Not sure if anyone has successfully used a registered mail method to win a copyright dispute...???

 

[dintymoore]

How do I protect my music?

I would use a blue tarp. < cowbell >

There's really no way to protect yourself worldwide - it's Piratesville! Sony hasn't even figured out how to do that.

In a way the best thing that could happen to you would be that someone steals your song and you end up in a big legal battle that CNN covers.

I would just get a copywrite (bulk all your songs) and not worry about it.

 

[miroslav]

In a way the best thing that could happen to you would be that someone steals your song and you end up in a big legal battle that CNN covers.

Then you would have the book/movie rights to sell off and make some $$$ off of that!

 

[Supercreep]

The real answer for most musicians is that you can't, in any absolute sense.

Once you release something in the wild you lose control over it.

Your ability to compel other people to not steal your music is limited.

 

[dintymoore]

The real answer for most musicians is that you can't...

And... it doesn't matter.

If you end up being a well know songwriter you will get lots of your stuff stolen from you and you'd probably be able to fight some of it, but not most.

It's like the Vanilla Ice thing... the modern way, unfortunately, is to rip everybody off then have a lawsuit if it goes big.

So just copywrite and forget.

 

[Chili]

I've wondered about this because there are so many people that share their music on forums like this, and probably without any protection on the songs. And they don't seem afraid at all for someone to steal their work

I know, who the heck steals others musical ideas anyway? That's just pathetic. But you can never be 100% sure.

I feel sorry for the fool who tries to steal my music.... that would make him more lame than the person who wrote the songs.... ME!!!!

Doing the postmarked, registered mail, poor man's copyright, mailing a letter to yourself thingy is not valid proof of copyright ownership. The only way is to register with a centralized clearinghouse like the US Copyright Office.

They have an online registration process that will save you a little money. Plus, it's more cost effective to register all your songs at one time as a collection. That way you pay the registration fee only once.

 

[miroslav]

Your ability to compel other people to not steal your music is limited.

I don't think this would even be a reason to copyright your music.
Copyright is for when they do steal your music and call it their own creation...but it's meant to be a tool to prevent it.

Also, once you release something...copyright isn't there to help you recoup $$$ from people who are making bootleg copies or stealing downloads...etc.
Copyright has nothing to do with stopping that or controlling that. That is regulated with different mechanisms.

 

[RastaSean]

creative commons

first of all, look up creative commons.

If you write your music and/or sing it, you don't want other people to make money from it but why not let them sing and perform it? That will spread your song quick and fast.
http://creativecommons.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_commons

secondly, thousands of bands and artists allow people to freely record their live performances and post it all over the web since they understand the more people who know who they are, the better (usually).

http://www.archive.org/details/etree
www.dimeadozen.org
http://bt.etree.org/

 

[moresound]

Just look at poor Sir George! I mean "My Sweet Lord" sounded a little like "He's So Fine" on the melody line but come on.....he still shelled out a few pennies in the end.

 

[Supercreep]

I don't think this would even be a reason to copyright your music.
Copyright is for when they do steal your music and call it their own creation...but it's meant to be a tool to prevent it.

Also, once you release something...copyright isn't there to help you recoup $$$ from people who are making bootleg copies or stealing downloads...etc.
Copyright has nothing to do with stopping that or controlling that. That is regulated with different mechanisms.

I didn't say a word about copyright. I just mused that there really isn't much a poor musician can do about any of the situations you outline above.

 

[ez_willis]

How do i protect my music?

too late. it's already all over the torrent sites.

 

[miroslav]

I didn't say a word about copyright. I just mused that there really isn't much a poor musician can do about any of the situations you outline above.

Right.

I was just using your points as a springboard to further clarify for the newbs what copyright is mainly for.