Bike Rider
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Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/27 23:15
One thing every one should remember. Register your songs with a copyright organisation. I'm affiated with BMI. I'll be making sure they have clearence forms for my songs before I send off the CD.
Good thing BMI let's me register them online now. Saves big on Mailing.
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Ethiks Committee
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/27 23:27
How does one pursue this option...
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Bike Rider
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/27 23:44
Go to the website of the local organisation of your country. Look on your CDs to see what they are.
There's Socan in Canada
BMI and Ascap in the US
BMI is also in the UK
you can google their names.
BMI allows online sign up, I believe.
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Ethiks Committee
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/27 23:45
Excellent! Thank you for the tip. I don't want Timbaland stealing any of my music...
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reverendrat
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/27 23:47
I use the quick & cheap copyright option-
TECHNICALLY, anything you sign and date is automatically copywritten. The reason for filing with the Copyright Office is so that you have legal documentation to prove you wrote it down first.
I just sign and date in the presence of a Notary- A notoized signature will cost you $5 at any city clerk's office, and is a perfectly legal document that will hold up in court if need be. Cheaper and far more convinient than dealing with the federal level.
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Kaichi
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 00:09
ASCAP, BMI, et al don't really deal with copyrighting your songs. They're more concerned with making sure you get your proper royalties from performances, radio play, etc. In the US, if you want to copyright your songs, you have to do so through the copyright office. Reverendrat is correct in that your work is automatically under your copyright from the moment you create it, but obtaining legal copyright can help you out if you're ever in a court battle over the ownership of your own material. It's not even necessary, there, but it gives more weight to your case if you can show that you've taken that extra step to protect your work.
ASCAP is at www.ascap.com, and BMI is at www.bmi.com. It's free to join either agency. Read their individual terms and such and decide which one is best for you.
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Nick
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 10:51
You know I don't know if this is actually effective, but
"poor man's copyright" : Send (in the mail) a copy of all the manuscript/audio/everything that you've recorded to yourself. Don't open it; put it somewhere safe. Bust it out if you're ever in court, it's postmarked, providing proof of date.
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WaxwingSlain
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 11:40
The current system of copyright, and the entire intellectual property system of laws, is an ugly scam that kills innovation and creativity.
We're all going to have to devise new ways of making a living as artists, because the current setup is only a way to enrich those who are already rich, already powerful.
Learn everything you can about "the way things work" when it comes to protecting yourself, but bear in mind that it's a house of cards that's a second away from falling. Read about the Creative Commons licenses.
I'm currently researching digital watermarking and signatures, not to prevent copying, but to make sure that my work can be identified as my work, no matter if it's the original master or a copy of a copy of a copy...
Innovators will always figure out ways to stay afloat, but if you're looking to get rich, play the lotto. That boat has already left the harbor.
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danduran
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 13:52
Nick wrote:
You know I don't know if this is actually effective, but
"poor man's copyright" : Send (in the mail) a copy of all the manuscript/audio/everything that you've recorded to yourself. Don't open it; put it somewhere safe. Bust it out if you're ever in court, it's postmarked, providing proof of date.
You know, you could just send yourself an empty envelope, then put the discs in after.
In most countries you own the copyright the very second you create something, no need to register it with anyone; if someone then releases something like yours, you have a case. If there was absolutely no way the other person could have heard you created, it could just be a coincedence. If your stuff was released in any form, like the poor guy who Timbaland jacked, then yeah, you have a case, regardless of whether it was registered.
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Nick
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 14:21
Well no because the envelope is sealed
You don't open it once you receive it
So you have a sealed postmarked proof of date
So since you own intellectual property as soon as you've created, you've provided proof that you came up with this on said date
I've never tried this but if you wanted to take it court (or someone tried to steal your stuff and then take you to court  ) I assume it would be legitimate proof as long as it was clear that the envelope hadn't been tampered with
Post edited by: Nick, at: 2007/01/28 13:40
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Bike Rider
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 14:36
When I first posted I couldn't say exactly what I wanted to. Brain cramp...
Anyways...
LIke Kai Starr said. Registering songs with BMI or ASCAP or such performance rights organisations is not about copyright. It's about ensuring these organisations will collect royalties on your songs / music when they are broadcast or performed by others.
There is less likelihood of anyone stealing your music if performance rights organisation is watching out for it.
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reverendrat
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 17:33
Just a quick side note-
ASsCrAP and BMI are frackin' useless to anybody here unless you have a top 40 band recording your material. The way they calculate royalties feeds 90% of the money they pay out to the top 100 selling acts and leaves the rest with next to squat, regardless of actual numbers.
I can't find the old link I had with the hard figures, but here's one band's story:
http://www.stagepassnews.com/frontrow/thevirgins.html
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Ethiks Committee
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 17:39
Phew! Glad I did not sign up...
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Kaichi
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 18:00
Hey, reverendrat, thanks for that link! That's good stuff to know. I've never been a member of a PRO, despite being told for the last 20 years that I needed to join one.
However, I would like to point out that while Mr. Kopec-Farrell wrote in the article that his band's association with ASCAP "...did not benefit The Virgins in any way," he did go on to mention they had made $300 out of it. That sounds like a benefit to me. Three hundred bucks may not be anything to him, but I'd be thrilled to get that kind of money from the performance of my songs.
I think it just comes down to what you really want to do. If you feel better signing up with a PRO, then by all means, do it. If you're going out touring, selling CD's and all that, maybe it would be a good idea for you. Most of us could use a few hundred extra bucks. That buys a lot of guitar strings! If you're sitting at home playing your songs just for yourself and for a few other people, you probably don't need it.
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alittle
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 20:49
I read this thread in the morning, and on my way to work this afternoon i heard an NPR Financial program, discussing the need for copyright, and how they're used. These two occurences I consider more than coincidence. Apparently, everything you write, as soon as its recorded is copyright protected, but the function of filing a federal form is to give you the power to take action against someone who infringes the copyright.
so i think legal actiuon by the government can be taken, you just can't personally sew them for half a million dollars if it happens.
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ROMAN[US]
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/28 22:15
indeed as the reverend rat points out, unless you have in the past been a major artist, your benefits from BMI or ASCAP are null,
I belong to BMI, and I can assest that have received not royalty of benefit derived from the airplay on my previous album.
however if registration of piece or music, poetry or artowrk, can be done easily and cheap, thru the library of congress..
using the correct form you can actually register each song indivdually or, use one for as a compendium of many works such as a CD, one title of one work, with an x number of songs.
I have done this in the past to register my songs, and it's very fast , you would receive a certifcation in the mail that tells you own the copyright of X works.
Sound Recordings
Follow these steps to register your recording of music, drama, or a lecture:
Step 1
Make sure your work is a sound recording. Sound recordings are “works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work.” Common examples include recordings of music, drama, or lectures (read details).
Copyright registration for a sound recording alone is neither the same as, nor a substitute for, registration for the musical, dramatic, or literary work recorded. The underlying work may be registered in its own right apart from any recording of the performance, or in certain cases, the underlying work may be registered together with the sound recording (read details on choosing the correct form).
Note: To register performing arts works, see the Performing Arts instructions. Read more about the registration of musical compositions and sound recordings.
Step 2
Put into one envelope or package:
a completed application Form SR and Form CON if needed.
a $45 payment to "Register of Copyrights."
nonreturnable copy(ies) of the material to be registered (read details)
Please read this important notice about mail delivery disruption.
Step 3
Send the package to:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
Your registration becomes effective on the day that the Copyright Office receives your application, payment, and copy(ies) in acceptable form. If your submission is in order, you will receive a certificate of registration in approximately 4 months.
For more details, please see Circular 56, Copyright Registration for Sound Recordings and other informational circulars.
here's the link.
http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html
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tuesday
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/30 14:38
Nick wrote:
You know I don't know if this is actually effective, but
"poor man's copyright" : Send (in the mail) a copy of all the manuscript/audio/everything that you've recorded to yourself. Don't open it; put it somewhere safe. Bust it out if you're ever in court, it's postmarked, providing proof of date.
To me, this seems like the best option for this project. Since we only have a month to get it all done. Just send a copy of everything you did to yourself at the same time you send it to RPM. easy cheesy. then, if in march you are thinking you want to use it for other things, spend the $40 bucks and get the copyright officially. eh? eh.
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Scott McBride
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/30 15:03
The "poor man's copyright" does indeed work, though I was told by a professor in college that if that is your copyright avenue, you can't sue for damages.
So, take that as you will.
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favored
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Re:Registering Your Songs. - 2007/01/30 15:23
I've been registered at ASCAP for some time now from way back when my former band actually released something via a record label.
We just did the poor man's copyright, as well. I guess I didn't have the patience to deal with all the Library of Congress drama.
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