Worth It To Copyright Songs?

[MikeRobinson]

On 7/19/2014 at 9:10 PM, Guitarjoe said:

have a question about this statement. I read somewhere a couple years ago that the songs had to be completed work and that there had to be an audio recording of the work, as well as sheet music for each song. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

This is not true.  (At least, not in the USA.)

 

As you will see from http://copyright.gov, there are many things that you can copyright – movies, sound recordings, literary works, and songs (sheet music).  You can copyright a song using nothing more than a lead-sheet:  a minimal expression of the melody of the work.  Then, at the same time or at some future time, you can register a particular sound-recording of it, of course linking the two registrations so that it's clear that "this copyrighted recording" is "of this copyrighted song."  If you complete a more-elaborate written arrangement of the song, which you're planning to publish on its own, you can also cover your bases by registering that.  

 

Each "collection" that you register for your $35 each must be of a single type of material:  you can't mix sound-recordings and sheet-music in the same collection.

 

Of course, you should complete the song before registering it – in that you need to have worked out what the essential song is, so that you can express it as a lead sheet.

[MikeRobinson]

On 7/31/2017 at 2:42 PM, HoboSage said:

 

Though the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 changed things and made copyright protection for an original work automatic upon it being fixed in a tangible medium of expression, and it was no longer required to register the work or use of a copyright notice,  the current Act still offers significant benefits for both the prompt registration of the work and use of a proper copyright notice.

 

Also, as I said before, registration is an objective, independently-verifiable claim of title, officially made with the Government and made by you "under penalty of perjury."

 

Just as you'd better have the title-certificate in your hot little hands when you try to sell an automobile, pragmatically speaking you'd better have the copyright registration-number when you try to peddle a song.  Because, the person to whom you're offering the song can objectively look-up your claim, verify that the record really is on the government's database, and can document that he performed that search.  And in so doing, "cover his corporate you-know-what!!"  

 

... which, considering the Draconian penalties that are built-in to copyright law in order to protect artists, is an extremely sensible precaution for them to take.  After all, they're in the business of selling and distributing music.  They're not in the business of stolen cars ... or, unregistered ones.  You will be required to prove, in this way, that you are the lawful owner and therefore entitled to bargain.  "You're in the business too, aren't you?  Then, Mind your P's and Q's ..."