Members Sheraton Player Posted December 2, 2008 Members Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi there! Im getting towards releasing my album. Its all mixed and ready to be mastered. It consists of 11 originals and 1 cover. So how should I go about getting the songs copywrited? I really need someone to hold my hand all the way through it! I have loads of other unrecorded songs too which Im playing live already. Should I record simple versions of these (ie solo acoustic takes) and throw them in with the others when they get copyrighted? And what do I need to do about this cover? It's a Bob Dylan song ("One Too Many Mornings" if anyone is interested). Chances are I won't be selling the album (at gigs and such) but rather encouraging people to download it for free. So I don't think there will be any money-making involved (yet). So help me out someone! And if this would get a better response in another forum, let me know. PS - Oh yeah I'm in the UK, so I don't know how much difference that makes, but if Im directed to UK websites rather than US ones that would help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pencil-in Posted December 5, 2008 Members Share Posted December 5, 2008 Hi there, I'm in the UK too and in a similar boat with my songs. I did a fair bit of reseach into this as obviously it is of concern to anyone who writes songs... I deduced that the best way to do it is the cheap way. make 3 copies of your album and 3 copies of your lyrics on paper. send them to yourself by recorded delivery at the post office and ask the clerk to put the date stamp over the seal of the envelope. upon recieving this in the mail, DO NOT OPEN IT... keep one copy yourself and give the other two to two others who you know you can trust. tell them NOT TO OPEN IT either. and that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silmaneero Posted December 5, 2008 Members Share Posted December 5, 2008 So how should I go about getting the songs copywrited? I really need someone to hold my hand all the way through it! PS - Oh yeah I'm in the UK, so I don't know how much difference that makes, but if Im directed to UK websites rather than US ones that would help... Under UK law, you automatically own the copyright for anything you create. You don't need to do anything. Should be covered for at least 70 years, which is normally enough for the original creator (Unless, of course, you've already agreed to give the copyright to someone else, for example as an employee of a company where your employment contract states this.) Proving that you created is the tricky bit, which is where the 'mailing sealed and postmarked recordings to lawyers' stuff comes in. You might find the factsheets on this page useful: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sheraton Player Posted December 5, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 5, 2008 Under UK law, you automatically own the copyright for anything you create. You don't need to do anything. Should be covered for at least 70 years, which is normally enough for the original creator NO WAY!!!!! Cool. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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