Members Parallex Posted February 1, 2006 Members Share Posted February 1, 2006 A quick question on copyright as there are several different things you can do.... I want to officially register with the copyright office, just to establish this point first off. Once we get this cd completed we're working on, I know you can copyright the recording or compilation. Does this serve as a copyright for each song on the cd too? Or only for that "compilation" of songs. Basically what I'm asking is to properly register my music, do I need to go through and pay and register each song individually, or is there a way I can register the whole cd in one shot and it's all protected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HarpNinja Posted February 1, 2006 Members Share Posted February 1, 2006 We registered our by sending two cds out. Everything is copyrighted at the same time. I am sure you have to fill out a form that asks about each song, but sending the information is a one time thing you can do all at once. I didn't do the paper work for ours, but it sounded pretty straight forward and there was only one fee. That being said, it takes months to get your official copyright information. The bright side is that the copyright starts, however, as soon as they receive the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 1, 2006 Yeah, it will take 4-6 months I believe. It's $30, and the forms do look easy. But there are several forms that are possible to use for music/audio so I don't want to do get the wrong one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 2, 2006 Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 Originally posted by HarpNinja The bright side is that the copyright starts, however, as soon as they receive the work. Actually, the copyright starts as soon as it is recorded in a tangible form. When you are registering, you are only registering the copyright that already exists. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what See questions 4 and 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 Originally posted by BlueStrat Actually, the copyright starts as soon as it is recorded in a tangible form. When you are registering, you are only registering the copyright that already exists. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#whatSee questions 4 and 5. that is correct, but if you are wanting to duke it out in the courts you're going to have the strong arm if you're registered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 2, 2006 Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex that is correct, but if you are wanting to duke it out in the courts you're going to have the strong arm if you're registered. Yes. Unless the other person is too. See the case where George Harrison got sued for "My Sweet Lord ( a registered copyright) for sounding too much like "He's So Fine", also a copyrighted tune. Registering usually protects you from ownership issues, but not from infringement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joestanman Posted February 2, 2006 Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 man this forum is full of worry warts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 2, 2006 Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 Originally posted by joestanman man this forum is full of worry warts! No {censored}. As if someone is going to steal one of their (or my) songs and make a jillion dollars off of it. Sure they will. Just as soon as pigs learn to fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 Originally posted by joestanman man this forum is full of worry warts! but it's education, too. I'm not necessarily worried about anything, I just want to know how to do what I want to do. But I think people do need to keep up on this stuff too. We're small time and assume nothing bad ever happens to us and we're safe. Except recently we discovered, while randomly watching "Made" on MTV one of our very own {censored}ing songs playing in the background. How they got it, I don't know, who's permission they got, I don't know, and who did they pay, I don't know...we're still looking into it, but the whole point is I quickly discovered I can't be immune to the evil powers that be out there just because we're small time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gennation Posted February 2, 2006 Members Share Posted February 2, 2006 You copyright the songs, as many as you want in one lumpsum, for $30, using the PA form. They'll all be nder one title. You copyright your CD as a complete product for $30 using the SR form. NOTE you can now submit songs using a PA form in digital format...that means your songs can be MP3, WMA, WAV, etc...so with a disc full of MP3's...you could copyright like 100's of songs for $30 in one shot. Cool {censored}!!!! If you ever need to break a tune out of the PA copyright...you can just do a new PA form for the one song, flip $30 for it, and reference the original PA title it was previously copyrighten under the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FireStorm Posted February 15, 2006 Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Just don't mail copies to yourself, even by registered mail, it won't stand up in court should there be a fight over it. FireStorm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Originally posted by FireStorm Just don't mail copies to yourself, even by registered mail, it won't stand up in court should there be a fight over it.FireStorm Have you had personal experience with this, out of curiousity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted February 15, 2006 Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex Have you had personal experience with this, out of curiousity? http://www.snopes.com/legal/postmark.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 15, 2006 Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex Have you had personal experience with this, out of curiousity? From the US copyright office FAQ: I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it? The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Originally posted by BlueStrat From the US copyright office FAQ:I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration. I'm aware of this. I've read the copyright office's website several times. But I was curious about hearing a story of this in action and seeing how it turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 15, 2006 Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex I'm aware of this. I've read the copyright office's website several times. But I was curious about hearing a story of this in action and seeing how it turned out. Ah. Nevermind, then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FireStorm Posted February 15, 2006 Members Share Posted February 15, 2006 Yes. I tried to tell the ninny that such a "poor man's copyright" was worthless, and the song "Help Me Make It Through The Night" - written around the original song - held up due to a duly executed copyright, and the fool's didn't. I was called as a professional witness, but the case never went on to trial on sound legal advice. She lost a ton of money listening to 'experts' who never did it themselves. She actually lost 10 of her best works in the process of 'going to Nashville'. FireStorm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gennation Posted February 16, 2006 Members Share Posted February 16, 2006 I have a friend much like all of us that posts tunes on forums for people to hear. Well this guy posted one, then about a year and a half later someone emails him about some guy selling some music on the Internet claiming my friends song is part of this guys CD. Well, one of the songs this guy was selling was my friends!!!! Everyone on the forum jumped in, we wrote letters to his local newpapers about the community thief, contacted his website provider in which they shut that portion of his site down. After a little more invesigation....we found that others had made the same type of complaints about their tunes. About 80% of his songs on the CD were someone else, someone elses recordings even. This guy had endorsements and everything. He was "the king of the blues" in his local area. But, this guy actually took steps to copyright the music he stole...even though it wasn't his stuff. So, there was no legal action that could be taken. He ripped off people that didn't copyright their music and then copyrighted it himself. So, by law he was the owner by legal rights. We found out later that this guy was also passing off some other guys military record as his own, and some other goofy stuff. So...do you know you can copyright your stuff by submitting MP3's??? Big stuff. For one $30 fee and a PA form you can copyright 100's of songs for $30. There's simply no excuse not to protect yourself...especially once you start distributing it...especially on the Internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzzball Posted February 25, 2006 Members Share Posted February 25, 2006 You could send a CD in and use a SR form. (sound recording). Very easy $30 and you are done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted February 26, 2006 Moderators Share Posted February 26, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex while randomly watching "Made" on MTV one of our very own {censored}ing songs playing in the background. How they got it, I don't know, who's permission they got, I don't know, and who did they pay, I don't know... Are you {censored}ting me? That's messed up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hugo H Posted February 26, 2006 Members Share Posted February 26, 2006 Originally posted by Parallex Except recently we discovered, while randomly watching "Made" on MTV one of our very own {censored}ing songs playing in the background. How they got it, I don't know, who's permission they got, I don't know, and who did they pay, I don't know...we're still looking into it I don't know how you might be looking into it, but just in case, at this point you should be a member of ASCAP or BMI. Either one can pursue this on your behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 27, 2006 The funny thing about it was it wasn't really a great song, from an album that was even more not that great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker Posted February 27, 2006 Members Share Posted February 27, 2006 Where do we get these "SR" forms !?!?!!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parallex Posted February 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted February 27, 2006 they are downloaded from the US Government Copyright and Patent website. I don't have the link, but it's been listed previously in this thread. I just always google for the link because I can never remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzzball Posted February 27, 2006 Members Share Posted February 27, 2006 Just google search for it, it will be easy to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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