Song Registration

[Writer]

Have any of you ever used this service?

 

If so, were you satisfied?

 

I usually just go through the copyright office. It takes longer and cost more than this service, though.

 

http://songregistration.com/

[Stackabones]

THIS IS A SCAM!

 

 

It's complete bull{censored}. Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

 

 

 

I understand that SongRegistration.com

[Writer]

I was wondering if it was. I ran into another writer who told me about it. He said that is how he registers his songs.

 

I'll just keep on using the US Copyright office...

[The Rand Man]

If you copyright more than one song at once it's not that expensive anyway (it's been a while since I've submitted a copyright form, but it's something like copyrighting a volume of original works, rather than just a single work). Going the official route is convenient with the online registration that the US Copyright office now offers. So why mess with anything else?

[James321]

I think Stakabones misses the point about why you register songs with third party services. It

[Stackabones]

I think Stakabones misses the point about why you register songs with third party services. It

[eeglug]

I've never ever had any real issues dealing with the copyright office.

 

You'd have to be an absolute dolt to not be able to follow their procedures. If you're having difficulties with the copyright office, I can't imagine you've ever had a driver's license, owned a car, a passport, held a job, written a resume, applied for health insurance or any other facet of life where you need to fill out a form, hardcopy or online.

[blue2blue]

A well-known copyright alternative is the well-established, free, Creative Commons system. It's not without its critics and the several court cases arising out of claims of infringement on CC-protected works has been mixed. Also, if one is a member of a PRO like ASCAP or BMI he should address their stated requirements. A case in Spain denied performance rights related damages, litigated through a Spanish PRO, because a song had been registered with CC instead of the Spanish governmental copyright office. In this country, PRO, ASCAP, has actually publicly attacked Creative Commons and CC strongly defended themselves.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

 

http://creativecommons.org/

[StreakerOfinsky]

I think Stakabones misses the point about why you register songs with third party services . . .

A lot of your post makes very little sense, but the most important thing that doesn't make sense is the idea of only registering a song with the US Copyright Office once an infringement has occurred. That's ridiculous advice.

[James321]

Don

[StreakerOfinsky]

As to the

[Stackabones]

 

Bottom line: This is an important subject for all songwriters and info based on fact makes for a better forum (for instance, that songwriters should know that songs are NOT

[blue2blue]

Yeah... since official registration with your nation's copyright office (in the case of many of us here, the US) will carry great weight with a court and registration with a private service will likely carry precious little, I cannot imagine for the life of me why someone would pay around $30 to 'register' 1 to 4 songs through such a company when you can register an almost unlimited amount in a collected work copyright registration through the US copyright office. (It may be worthwhile filing addenda to that with individual sub-work title registrations in order to expedite Copyright Office searches, which I'm told are still mired in old technologies. But that's a minimal add'l cost. There are other reasons you may want to later file individual copyrights for certain songs, but the collected work US Copyright should provide you good documentation for your claim -- that will, in all cases I'm familiar with in this country, given priority to claims supported by self-declaration or registration through other bodies.)

 

That thread had a representative from the private registration service arguing their case -- but I was decidedly unimpressed.

 

UPDATE: I was just reading the US C.O.'s FAQs and I see that, under certain circumstances, registration can enable the imposition of statutory damages against the infringer awarded to the copyright holder, in addition to civil remedy. So that's an added bennie for official registration for US songwriters.

 

 

That said, for now, I'm leaving my moderator hat on the hook and leaving this thread open.

 

The best antidote to possibly questionable information is more information.

[Stackabones]

UPDATE: I was just reading the US C.O.'s FAQs and I see that, under certain circumstances, registration can enable the imposition of statutory damages against the infringer awarded to the copyright holder, in addition to civil remedy. So that's an added bennie for official registration for US songwriters. That said, for now, I'm leaving my moderator hat on the hook and leaving this thread open. The best antidote to possibly questionable information is more information.

 

Registration of copyright has legal bearing and can be used in court. This scam service that's being advocated and "discussed" in this thread is attempting to steal money from unsuspecting and uninformed (often misinformed) songwriters, most of whom will never recoup damages or have any legal recourse when needed, especially when relying on this service.

 

 

The lawfirm that runs the service doesn't concentrate on copyright law, though it does concentrate on "related matters" with worker's compensation in the state of California, which appears to be his speciality. Good lawyer to go to for that, but it doesn't mean that he has any expertise in copyright law. Ask him about worker's compensation in California, but take everything he says about copyright law with a grain of salt. It'd be like hiring a corporate lawyer to represent you in a murder trial.

 

Bottom line: US songwriters register with the US Copyright Office. No other "service" is legit, unless of course the Prince of Nigeria is personally contacting you via email.

[rockinrobby]

Bones, you were sending some mixed signals in your OP on this thread. So break it down for me? Should I use these guys?

[Stackabones]

[RedStreet]

Anyone who has to use profanity to get their point across is acting out of fear and anger and tells me they really don't know what they're talking about. Or, are so self-righteous and assured that they have to overcompensate their own insecurities by making others feel inferior to them if they disagree.

 

Truth is that I have used the Copyright office, and it is the preferred method. It also takes like 3 months for you to receive your certificate of registration in the mail.

 

This service is better than nothing and provides some support in a court of law and it's worth the $99 bucks to me. I also plan to register my songs with the Copyright office as well, but since I already have my material out there on the internet (which was a mistake), then I'm going to cover my butt as best I can.

 

I do not appreciate your accusations and lumping me into a category of idiots. I am not an idiot, though you are free to think as you wish.

 

God bless.

[guitarville]

 

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Stackabones wrote:

 

I think Stakabones misses the point about why you register songs with third party services. It