Copyrighting Music?

steevdeadman · Post by **steevdeadman** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:02 am

How easy/hard is it to get your songs copyrighted and what do they need recorded? I totally forgot how the process goes (haven't done it in years). My friend left his band but he wrote 95% of the music and the band still plays the songs like they wrote them themselves (yeah, bunch of douchebags). So my friend needs to get this stuff copyrighted so they can't record it (or make money off it at all). Does anyone have a heads up on what needs to be done?

Thanks a million! :thumb:

bigchiefbc · Post by **bigchiefbc** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:35 pm

steevdeadman wrote:How easy/hard is it to get your songs copyrighted and what do they need recorded? I totally forgot how the process goes (haven't done it in years). My friend left his band but he wrote 95% of the music and the band still plays the songs like they wrote them themselves (yeah, bunch of douchebags). So my friend needs to get this stuff copyrighted so they can't record it (or make money off it at all). Does anyone have a heads up on what needs to be done?

Thanks a million!

There's no official process for copyright (unlike trademarks, which have a registration) that you have to go through. All original creations of authorship automatically have copyright protection as soon as they are recorded/written. The legal language is "Fixed in a tangible medium", but basically as soon as its either recorded in any form, or written down in a reproducible way (lyrics, sheet music, even just a list of chord progressions). If that's done, he can just tell them "I own the copyrights to the songs you're playing. Cease and desist or pay me royalties, or I'll sue you." But he needs to have it recorded or written down.

steevdeadman · Post by **steevdeadman** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:12 pm

Thanks Chief! I thought it was super easy... I was looking at the gvmt site and you can just submit mp3s online. I'm gonna tell him to do that! :thumb:

Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D. · Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:30 pm

is there any validity to the sending yourself a letter in the mail containing the song,lyrics,etc?

iblamesummers · Post by **iblamesummers** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:00 pm

BMI or ASCAP. better do it quick before those songs end up on an Ipod Commercial !!!

:joy:

modernage · Post by **modernage** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:35 pm

bigchiefbc wrote:The legal language is "Fixed in a tangible medium", but basically as soon as its either recorded in any form, or written down in a reproducible way (lyrics, sheet music, even just a list of chord progressions). If that's done, he can just tell them "I own the copyrights to the songs you're playing. Cease and desist or pay me royalties, or I'll sue you." But he needs to have it recorded or written down.

The safest bet is to get a recording of these done asap. It's hard to dispute it when you can play the songs and say that they were recorded "x" amount of months prior. Recording quality is not important in this case. Just do a rough demo of each song in Garage Band or something similar.

Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D. wrote:is there any validity to the sending yourself a letter in the mail containing the song,lyrics,etc?

I have heard of people doing this, and having the Post Office date stamp on the postage be proof of date, but in our Copywriting class our teacher told us to avoid this method. There's just so many things that could go wrong with doing it that way. If the envelope get's opened or seal broken, or the date stamp isn't clear or wears off, or the letter gets lost/destroyed. If anything were to happen, 5 years down the road when you need to prove that you wrote those songs, you'd be screwed.

bigchief is right. The only legit way to do this would be to record these songs.

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