Members Deadbeat Son Posted November 10, 2011 Members Share Posted November 10, 2011 Originally Posted by daddymack You are not registering the album, you are registering the songs. The order, arrangements, etc. mean nothing. Thanks DM, just making sure since I was just going to register it via the SR (as a sound recording). I thought the differing order may constitute a different recording. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Annstar Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Haha! For years I thought mailing it to myself made it leigitimately copywritten... ignorance is bliss! #ohtobeyoungagain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Barber Surgeon Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Okay, here's a situation for you guys: My band has just finished recording an album that we would like to distribute through the normal online channels (iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, etc). We play weird progressive metal that has zero practical appeal to commercial interests, so being used in someone's promotion is extremely unlikely. Pretty much anything we could feasibly be co-opted for would be okay by us as it's free exposure. We already know we aren't going to make a penny releasing this music. Ever.Our main concern is establishing ourselves as the owners of the music so that we are free to use the above distribution channels. No one will ever want to cover this music, and any "suspiciously similar melodies" we may encounter will certainly be coincidental.Does this information mean we only need to submit a Form-SR? Is there any reason to do a Form-PA if we don't care about anyone being "influenced" by our work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 3, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted May 3, 2012 you can do it either way, but as the authors, why not just file the PA and forget the SR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Barber Surgeon Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 I think because we'd be more concerned with the recording than the songs. Also, I'm under the impression the distributors and aggregaters require you have the SR copyright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HoboSage Posted May 10, 2012 Members Share Posted May 10, 2012 Y'all need to get a clue. Go to the U.S. Copyright Office website AND READ. You should register online. And as long as the claimants are the same for the recording and the song, you want to register the SOUND RECORDING (SR) because it's broader than registering under Performance Arts (PA). As long as it's the same claimant(s) who's registering both, using SR you can simultaneously register BOTH the underlying musical work (which is what PA registers) AND you can register the sound recording. If the copyright claimants to the song and recording are not identical (e.g., you had others making original contributions to the recording of the song) then you will have to use PA to register the underlying song and if you want to also register the recording, you'll have to separately register that using SR. Given that your album sound recordings are finished, final products that you want to sell, you'd be foolish not to register the recordings, and you'd be really foolish not to do so within 3 months of publication to secure all the benefits of prompt registration under the Copyright Act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Joseph Kimbrell Posted May 18, 2013 Members Share Posted May 18, 2013 There used to be a service called MySpark Copyright for musicians who would register your songs for you with an extra fee. Unfortunately they ceased operations before I got to try it. Are there any other legit services out there that do this? I will use the US Copyright Office next time if I must though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 18, 2013 Author Moderators Share Posted May 18, 2013 why would you pay someone to do this? By the time you have told them the songs, authors, etc., you have done 90% of the registration... I know we are loathe to deal directly with our federal government, but this one is relatively painless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted June 24, 2013 Members Share Posted June 24, 2013 daddymack wrote: you can do it either way, but as the authors, why not just file the PA and forget the SR? Yes. The music of American artists licenced to us is registered with an American authors society. Lets say an American songwriter composes a song for a South Korean artist, then the songwriter supplies after he registered the song at BMI or ASCAP. That's all it needs and the song enters the international data bank all authors societies worldwide have access to and know to where the royalties must payed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members network4musicians Posted July 29, 2014 Members Share Posted July 29, 2014 Sorry to post to such an old topic, but SOCAN is a well know Canadian organization that manages copyright in Canada. We wrote a short article on registering your music and/or lyrics with SOCAN (FWIW) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted March 18, 2015 Members Share Posted March 18, 2015 I've always copyrighted my original music. Back in the 1980's some local idiots that I played with took some of my music and tried to play it off like they wrote. I went to their gig and told them to stop playing it or I would take action against them. They were part of the local "Hick Clique" music scene and kinda blackballed me. I didn't care. I moved to the Big City and they had the nerve to try to be friendly with me, since they seen I was playing in one of the more prominent bands in the city ..... I told them to F' off and I would do them a favor by ignoring them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bill5 Posted June 18, 2018 Members Share Posted June 18, 2018 until after August 1, 2009, when the fees go up to $65.00. Not sure where this came from, but the fee for the standard copyright registration is still $35.00 if done online. Do not pay anyone for forms, or to copyright your music for you. The forms are free, and can be downloaded online from the Copyright Offices website. They also have extensive instructions and FAQs to help you, along with many other resources. Wise words there. Why people would want to pay some company extra to do what they can do easily themselves I've no idea. A copyright will not protect your song from being stolen, unless you have a lot of money to wage a decades long lawsuit. If a big publisher want's your song, they are going to get it. They have more money than you. This would not surprise me in the least, but I have to wonder if that really is the norm. If you have it copyrighted, it should be an open and shut case. You have the copyright; they don't. I have had several stolen over the years, but I don't mind. I got lots of others. The copyright is just proof that you registered it on a certain date, if and when you ever get in front of a judge. In my cases, it was just easier to settle with them for a fee and be done with it. No lawyers, or court briefs. They got the song, and I got SOME money, as opposed to getting nothing by pursuing a lawsuit. For them, it was chump change just to make it go away. For me, it was paying off my mortgage, or car. I was OK with it.Wow sorry to hear that, but glad you got something. copyrights are assignable, and can be passed down to your children, grandchildren, etc...Yes but even then I think it has limits i.e. it cannot be passed down forever. I consider the entire royalty collection and distribution system crooked. It's nothing more than legalized, organized crime.I can't say but wouldn't be surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 18, 2018 Author Moderators Share Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) yeah, good luck on the DNA thing...there is no record of the PMC EVER being upheld in a court ruling to my knowledge. A violator isn't going to bother trying to fake oyur PMC...why bother? If there is no filed copyright, then they could just write out or record the song and register it and your PMC is worthless. Edited June 18, 2018 by daddymack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThomFromMyspace Posted September 1, 2018 Members Share Posted September 1, 2018 Thanks for bringing this up. I can't begin to tell you how important this is. Honestly, people lives get ruined over trivial copyright garbage. So, good looking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 2, 2018 Author Moderators Share Posted September 2, 2018 actually, anyone can play your songs as long as they don't try to record and sell them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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