Copyright Faq

[john]

Hey

Thought this would be useful:

Copyright FAQ

By posting on these forums you are in effect self-publishing. You should include the copyright symbol and copyright date in your posts.

Posting on any forum is a weaker form of copyright protection and I recommend that you register your songs. For non-US members I also suggest registering your songs in the US as well as in your own country.

Cheers

John

[john]

Easiest way is when you have a finished song is to register songs via the US copyright office online, but by simply posting on songstuff and other forums you are establishing your copyright with a date and time stamp. remember to include the copyright symbol and your name with all rights reserved. Have a read at the copyright FAQs to get a better idea

[john]

http://www.copyright.gov/

Use the eCO link

[MikeRobinson]

One very nice feature of US Copyright law is that you can register any number of songs at once, for one nominal price, as a "collection."

Copyright persists, jointly and severally, on all of the works in the collection, without any regard to how you actually accomplished the paperwork. In fact, the entire concept of "a collection" is merely for the administrative convenience of the copyright office. It merely means, "you registered all of 'em at once, and the good news is that you paid just one price to do it."

[darren]

I'm almost ready to post some tunes on the forum (or via a link to you tube) but have stalled after reading this faq. I'm based in the Uk and, until now, have used the copyright service of the Guild of International Songwriters and Composers (also UK based). I am now wondering if this is sufficient and whether or not I need to register my songs with the US Copyright Office before exposing them on the web.

Just to explain the process in the GISC - their copyright service consists of the member sending an audio recording with lyrics to them which is then returned, date stamped in a sealed plastic envelope. I'm sure they also keep a copy themselves but am not absolutely sure without double checking.

Hopefully someone can advise on whether I need to go the extra step and register in the US.

 

This is the short version of what the GISC says on its website:

The Guild of International Songwriters & Composers Copyright Registration Centre, the leading independent music copyright registration witnessing service for Certified copyright & intellectual property rights of songwriters, composers, lyricists and the music industry in general, is a free service for Guild members. The Guild will supply, where there is ever any copyright dispute certified information and a copy of works registered with the Guild, as an official declaration of a members registration, to solicitors, lawyers or any member's other legal representatives in any country in the world where cases of copyright disputes arise, to support our members' copyright registrations and claims. More information on copyright registration is on our services page within this website.

 

Yes, just need to find a half decent recording now!

[MusicMM]

Your work is adequately protected with a time stamp but you will only be able to sue for damages in a US court if your work is also registered with the US copyright office.

[writeandwrong]

Hi. I have only registered one lyric at a time and had a question regard the collection method. We have 10 songs we are submitting. I co-wrote 8 of them and the co-writer fully wrote the other two. It is my understanding from what I read on the copyright.gov site that since the co-writer took part in all of them that we can submit all 10 in the collection. Is that how you understand it as well?

Lastly, back in the 80s I had co-written a song, and now my new co-writer rewrote music to the same lyric. I just learned that I need to get permission from the composer of the original song even tho the new co-writer is only using the lyrics I wrote...as once the song is put together, co-ownership isn't one person owning the lyrics and one person owning the music...it's 1/2 ownership of the song as a whole...so now to find some guy from long ago, now in his 70s. He never registered the song with the copyright office, tho I registered the lyric itself, but still feel I should somehow contact him as a courtesy. No question on this, I guess, but thought the information might help someone else here...because now if I can't get in touch with the cowriter, legally the new cowriter can't use the music he just wrote to my old set of lyrics... I guess my other option is to rewrite new lyrics to the new music lol

If anyone can help with the collection question I have, I'd greatly appreciate it. I just want to make sure I understand it properly before submitting.

Thanks!

Jena

[writeandwrong]

Hi, Tom.

I think you are right on that. To be sure, we'll just pay the $35 as two collections...sure beats paying $350 for all 10 songs lol. We won't complain :-)

Thanks.

Jena

[solman]

Hey i have a quick question bout copyright with the US copyright office. Im in the process of sending in my application but the only thing that has me a little confused: i have demo recordings of my songs which you can clearly hear the lyrics and chords...but they arent the recordings i will publish, they are just demos. on the application form there is 2 categories that apply to me: "work of the performing arts" and "sound recording"

now it is sound recordings i am going to submit but its really the work - the chords and lyrics - that i am intending to protect, not the sound recording itself...

can someone help me to clarify this?

thanks

[BigBubbaBrown]

How does the copyright notice deal on the site work if you don't use your real name? When registering obviously I'd use the name on my birth certificate but online I never use my real name. Even my facebook name was "borrowed" from one of Victor Hugo's works.

 

I'm increasingly paranoid of identity theft so I take great pains to make sure that there's nothing on my PC that can identify me if a key logger or other type of trojan makes its way through, all forms are filled out in pen and mailed in, and I never even type my real name on any web site so how would I handle the copyright information when posting a song here?

[symphonious7]

so now the question is.  How do I make the copyright symbol with my keyboard lmao

 

© Well then, on a mac apparently it's alt + G  I literally just kept hitting buttons till I found it.  

[john]

Hi

 

Just as a quick reference:

 

US Copyright Laws and Forms 

 

Copyright Basics

 

Title 17, Chapter 1, § 114 of the US Copyright Law 

(First section is about sound recordings) 

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#114

 

Registering Sound Recordings 

http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html

 

Download interactive copyright registration form PDFs 

http://www.copyright.gov/forms/

 

Copyright Registration for Derivative Works 

 

 

The two PDFs above are from the “Circulars” section of the US copyright site:

 

https://www.copyright.gov/circs/

 

 

[Lupus Canis]

On 2/5/2011 at 11:05 PM, john said:

Easiest way is when you have a finished song is to register songs via the US copyright office online, but by simply posting on songstuff and other forums you are establishing your copyright with a date and time stamp. remember to include the copyright symbol and your name with all rights reserved. Have a read at the copyright FAQs to get a better idea

What is a copyright symbol ?

 

[Lisa Gates]

Hi Lupus,

 

©

 

"C" in a circle.

hold and hit the "Alt key" then press 0 1 6 9 on the keyboard to get it.

Hope you're staying safe. Have a good night!
Lisa

[john]

For "alt 0169", the numbers must be typed on the number keypad in most countries

 

On our boards you can also:

1. Click on source in top left of post editor
2. Place the cursor where you want the copyright symbol to appear
3. type ©
4. Click on source in top left of post editor to return to normal view