soluble_fish

i'm in the process of putting some of my songs on the net.... does anyone out there know anything about how i can copyright my songs before i put them out there?


sf

dangin

The act of creation gives you copyright. But you need to send the written music, a copy of the performed music, and anything else to the Library of Congress Copyright office. There is a form you can download from the LOC.gov site, and a fee you have to submit. Then months later you will get your form back with the official information completed by the copyright office.

soluble_fish

so, the LOC registers and recognizes the copyrights, but doesn't "issue" copyrights?

does this mean i can post the songs on the web before i get the actual registration, and they're still copyrighted to me?

dangin

You made them, they're copyrighted to you. Proving that in a court of law, is another matter.

There are lots of ways to register things. Copyright at the LOC is the best. There is also the writer's guild who will time stamp your lyrics when you mail them to them with the proper form and fee. Then you can prove that you created such and such on or before such and such date. But the writer's guild only holds your stuff for five years, and then you have to pay to renew.

You can mail a copy of your stuff to yourself and then after it is delivered, don't open it, lock it away, and the post mark is some proof of when you created it.

the LOC copyright is the best, longest lasting method to protect your intellectual creations. It's not that hard. It took me less than an hour to do the work and mail off one of my screenplays. But it took three months to get my copyright form back. Also, you will be in the library of congress forever. It's a form of immortality,

dangin

For your absolute protection, I would wait a few weeks to post on the web, from the time you sent your material to the LOC. That should get it in ahead of anyone trying to steal from you off the web. However, this is all really anal. The possibility of someone stealing from you that fast is pretty small. Besides, as soon as you make it, put the little copyright c symbol on it along with the year. That will make most people think you've already fully protected yourself.

soluble_fish

thanks for your help. this is a project i'm working on, called: Roth Ko's Object... they're experimental, idiosyncratic, electronica songs...


sf

Cofffee

You may be interested in using one of the Creative Commons licences. They are a set of license documents with explanations and you can pick and choose the terms you want to release your work under. The licenses are focused on sharing your work with others, while still retaining some control over how it can be used.

Their site has a lot of information and help for people who want to release a work publicly and not see it misused by commercial interests.

To make use of the license in your work, you add text similar to the following on your download page (you could additionally embed it within an MP3 file using an ID3 tag):