Author Topic: Copyrighting your songs (Read 112 times)

richbass939 · « **on:** June 27, 2008, 08:02:08 PM »

I'm sure there must be a bunch of people on this board who have copyrighted their songs. I have a half dozen or so songs that I want to go ahead and copyright and would appreciate some advice.

I have seen some websites that offer to do the work for you for $60 or $70. I don't completely trust them, though, and want to be careful. Can any of you recommend one you have had good experiences with?

I believe you don't have to copyright each individual song, that you can get one copyright (and pay the fee once) for a collection of songs. Is this correct?

If this is true can a collection be some recorded songs and some poems? I have a couple that I have written lyrics for but not the instrumental. If I could lump them all together now, I would like to do it.

What about copyrighting some Weird Al type of adaptations? I have a few songs that have original lyrics but are obvious copies of other songs' styles. Does anyone know how this works?

I would like to NOT use my real name in the copyrights. I've heard that I would have to set up a corporation and use the corporate name. Is that true or is there another way to do it?

I would appreciate any help you folks could give me.
Thanks,
Rich

elwoodblue · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2008, 08:53:10 PM »

goood question Rich,
I'll be watching answers with ya,

eligilam · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2008, 07:25:46 AM »

I recently copyrighted my album. You can go to http://www.copyright.gov/forms/ and print off Form SR from the website. It has a pretty good walkthrough of how to get copyrights done. I think the processing fee was around $45. I'm still waiting on the confirmation...but the forms say it can take several months to get any word back from the copyright office.

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2008, 11:01:26 AM »

On the question of incorporation. In my view, as a generalization, it's almost always a bad idea to create a C corporation; you are much better off going with an S corporation or an LLC. And for the purposes of holding a long-term transferable intangible asset such as a copyright, then it seems to me that an LLC, or perhaps a limited partnership, is going to be preferable to an S corp. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you need to talk to a CPA or attorney who specializes in income tax and is familiar with organizing business entities in your state.

57basstra · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2008, 05:36:32 PM »

http://creativecommons.org/

Ever heard of Creative Commons? Take a look at this for protection, shared use, collaboration and fair dealing

richbass939 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2008, 07:57:31 PM »

David R., I looked at a lot of the info on the CC site and it is pretty interesting. I'm not quite sure what it all means and how to practically apply it. Do they copyright a writer's material or do they take material that has already been copyrighted and share it to the degree that the writer wishes? I am not wanting to copyright things to start a commercial venture. I just want to legally protect it so that someone else can't just take it and use it commercially. However, I would have no problem with it if people wanted to perform it just for fun.
Will, I assume that while the copyright office is processing it there would be some sort of copyright pending status so one could go ahead and put their work out in public without the risk of it being outright ripped off.
Dave H., I hadn't yet gotten to the point of figuring out what type of corp to set up. My wife has been involved in setting up several LLCs and could probably walk me through the process.
Thanks to all for your comments. If anyone else has any more info that would be helpful, I'm still all ears.
Rich

lbpesq · « **Reply #6 on:** June 29, 2008, 10:41:02 AM »

It was a long time ago and I've never practiced in this area, but I did take copyright law (& entertainment law) in Law School from the Beatles' lawyer. IIRC, the following considerations apply. First, you do not need to copyright your song to prevent others from stealing it. So long as you can prove you wrote it first, you can still sue someone for unauthorized use and collect damages. One way to prove you wrote it first is the poor man's copyright where you mail yourself a copy and leave the envelope sealed. The reasons to copyright are twofold. First, it clearly establishes that you are the author as of the date of copyright, and secondly, by registering your copyright, you are entitled to statutory damages in event of unauthorized use. This means that if someone rips you off and you prevail in court, they owe you at least an amount of money as provided for in the copyright laws. This applies even if the song stealer never made any money off of your song - they still have to pay you some money. If you don't register a copyright and your song is stolen and you prevail in court, you are only entitled to actual damages - the actual profit the thief made off of your song. That's my recollection, but please consult with a copyright/patent attorney before taking any action in reliance on the above.

Bill, tgo

(Message edited by lbpesq on June 29, 2008)

richbass939 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 29, 2008, 08:49:18 PM »

Bill, thank you for the suggestion (thanks to all of you). I think I have a pretty good idea how to proceed now, given my goals for the material.
Bill, one of the songs is the one we spoke about earlier. As I said back then, it's fine with me if you use it whenever you want to.
Rich