lyric and idea protection

[zilgirl]

 

Hey all..I could use a co-writer sometimes and this looks like the place to get some good ideas, BUT...how do I protect my ideas and lyrics? thanks for the feedback....

 

t in tn

[rhino55]

Protect them from what?

[rsadasiv]

Protect your ideas by never, ever sharing them with anyone else. Inside your own head is the only place they can every truly be kept safe.

 

Honestly, I don't worry about it, but then again most of my ideas aren't worth stealing.

[zilgirl]

Well, I suppose I'll take a chance cause if I keep them in my head, then no one will ever hear my songs and, who knows, there may be a good one come out of here some day...cheers to you!

[zilgirl]

Copyright protection is what I'm looking for...the best way to keep my ideas and songs as mine!

[Oswlek]

Every single artist initially worries about having their ideas stolen. The vast majority end up hoping that it happens because it means at least someone was listening.

 

You can register your copyright at a number of places, but the overwhelming odds are that it will never matter.

[blue2blue]

Well' date=' I suppose I'll take a chance cause if I keep them in my head, then no one will ever hear my songs and, who knows, there may be a good one come out of here some day...cheers to you![/quote']

Have ideas been stolen? Yes. Does copyright protect ideas from being stolen? By and large, no. It protects specific words and melodies. And it is, technically, invoked as soon as you publish a work, though the US courts have continued to insist that to protect that copyright it is all but mandatory to use the government copyright registration office. That registration doesn't itself 'protect' you -- but it gives you a court-preferred record of your copyright.

 

(There are other, non-governmental copyright registration services, but US courts have by and large insisted on maintaining the governmental 'monopoly' on registration services by insisting that a registration in the US office takes precedence over even an earlier registration with a non-governmental registration service like Creative Commons. The bottom line of this reasoning: the facts don't matter as much as maintaining the supremacy of that government monopoly. So far, this view has been upheld in the courts -- but there are those who suggest its 'perversity' in preferring official registration over true facts of authorship will eventually result in a change. We'll see.)

 

 

Now, ideas aside, have words and melodies been stolen?

 

Yes, though what some authors interpret as a theft more often seems to independent observers more as coincidence -- what an aggrieved author may interpret as theft, other observers may see as a lyrical phrase or two (that quite likely appear in many other works) or, similarly, a bit of melodic movement that similarly has seen multiple uses. But in these cases, the party who perceives this 'theft' is often fixated on a particular song, often one that has been released and is getting some kind of draw.

 

And that last point leads us to the tiny handful of folks who will, indeed, outright steal all or part of a song. It has happened. But it's surprisingly rare and, perhaps even more surprisingly, seems to happen more with music that's already had some success. The perception among some is that these thieving types are more likely to steal something they know 'works' and less likely to be able to perceive innate quality in, say, a typical songwriter demo.

 

Me, cynic that I am, I 'hide in plain sight.' When I write a new song, the first thing I do is record it and post it to my account on Archive.org (the Internet Archive, as it is formally known) and post a link to that recording and the lyrics in my songwriter blog. A personal blog might not be much in the way of evidentiary weight, but the dated file at Archive.org should carry at least a little weight. That said, we know that the courts will almost certainly favor even a later US Copyright Office registration, all else equal, so my plan, in the unlikely event someone appropriates one of my tunes and gets some exposure with it, would be a nasty, David-vs-Goliath shame campaign. If there's one thing the new social media sphere is good for, it's getting people outraged when the big guys push around the little guys. The latter being yours truly.

 

 

PS... one good way to gain a basic protection for your songs that doesn't cost $35-$55 per item is to do a 'collective work' registration. This involves essentially 'publishing' a collection of songs as a 'song cycle' or other aggregate work. Last time I read up on this, it was advised to also file a separate title registration addendum for each of the titles in the aggregate work, so as to enable proper copyright searching.

[davie]

If you're writing a song with a co-writer and you're worried that person will "steal" the song, then you shouldn't be working with that person in the first place. Collaboration is all about TRUST. How can you hope to harness your creativity and full potential when you're in constant fear? When you work together with others to write the song, everyone involved in the songwriting process will get writing credits.

 

On the other hand, if you're worried about uploading new music and having it stolen by someone who claims it to be their creation, then you should register your song(s) with the Copyright office in your jurisdiction (~$40). There's a fee you have to pay, so releasing individual songs at a single time might not be very cost-effective. Instead you can wait a bit to release and copyright the music as a collection/album, etc all at once.

[Marshal]

. . ' date=' so my plan, in the unlikely event someone appropriates one of my tunes and gets some exposure with it, would be a nasty, David-vs-Goliath [i']shame campaign. [/i]If there's one thing the new social media sphere is good for, it's getting people outraged when the big guys push around the little guys. The latter being yours truly. . . ,

.

 

I'm sort of in that boat. If somebody steals my song and makes a million, I'll sue them. Probably won't get anything. But then maybe I'll be famous as the guy who sued Michael Jackson for stealing "Beat it"

 

And maybe someone will listen to my next song. ;)

 

You know what Andy Warhol says.

 

[rsadasiv]

 

I'm sort of in that boat. If somebody steals my song and makes a million, I'll sue them. Probably won't get anything. But then maybe I'll be famous as the guy who sued Michael Jackson for stealing "Beat it"

 

And maybe someone will listen to my next song. ;)

 

You know what Andy Warhol says.

 

[zilgirl]

Just what I needed..thanks for the good advise. Have a great week-end,where ever you are.

t in tn.

[zilgirl]

So true, just to get a listen would be nice,but to have a song stolen,now that could be the ultimate compliment. thanks commenting. At least I know that somebody is out there listening to my posts!!

 

t in tn.

[zilgirl]

So true...thanks for posting and thanks for the advise.

cheers

t in tn.

[zilgirl]

thanks for the reply..it mattered, truly.

 

t in tn.

[BenStoller]

Hey all..I could use a co-writer sometimes and this looks like the place to get some good ideas, BUT...how do I protect my ideas and lyrics? thanks for the feedback....

 

t in tn

You can't protect your ideas, but as many others have posted, you get copyright protection for your song (either lyrics, melody, or both) at the U.S. copyright website: http://www.copyright.gov/ for $35.

 

Anything you write has copyright protection by default. Registering your copyright gives you proof of your copyright to use in court if someone steals from you.

 

You can get some evidence to use in court by posting your work online if the post has a time posted. How effective that would be is questionable. There is also a free registration site: http://www.copyrighted.com/ It checks out as being a legitimate service. It's not going to be anywhere near as good in court as copyright.gov, but it's probably better than nothing. I'm going to use it for my songs until I get rich and famous.