Greetz All,

In Light Of All That We Have Been Reading About Muzik Creation And The Pitfallz Of Work Being Stolen, And/Or Not Being Fairly Compensated For.

We Thought We'd Put Out An FYI To All About Just How Easy & Inexpensive It Is To Copyright Your Work. You Can Get It Done At The U.S Gov'z Copyright Office - Http://Copyright.Gov/ In Just About Any Format (Audio, Video, Etc) You Want To Establish Your Rights To. This Is Of Course For U.S. Artists & Producers, Not Sure How Or Where It Is Done In Other Countries (Maybe Someone In The Community Can Address How To Do This In Other Countries), But This Is Where To Go State Side, Most Importantly You Don't Need An Attorney To Do So (Good Newz For Independent Artists).

Info We Have Seen Says That Once An Audio, Video, Etc. Is Created, It Is Considered Copyrighted To The Creator. Registering A Copyright Creates A Legal Record Of Creative Ownership.

Hopefully This Is Helpful To Anyone Who Isn’t Sure Where Or How To Copyright Their Work. We Certainly Have Learned The Hard Way The Importance Of Getting This Done.

And Az Always, Much Love 2 The Great & Awesome Audioz Community. *yes*

 

As I understand copyright, it has to be registered in each country you plan to promote your work in, there are companys out there that can do that for you but obviously at a cost

 

easiest way to copyright your music is put it on a cd, post it to yourself and never open the envelope.


that way it has a stamp dated and can be used in court if need be

 

Also a comlpetely useless method.

• Send empty, open envelopes to yourself
• Steal someone elses creation (exhibit 1) sometime later
• Put it into one of the envelopes to make it look like you created exhibit 1 before the actual creator
• Claim exhibit 1 as your own work

That's what some random, cheap laywer would assume you did. A good lawyer might crush this 'copyright method' in a more creative way.

Go with what SirSillysausage said.

 

A friend of mine was asthonished years ago : one of his song was totally ripped by a bigger metal band.
Their producer was going to gigs of other bands, recording them, and changing just lyrics.

By accident, some years later, he was listening to his own song played by another band...

It is not isolated by any mean. It is old like art
http://soundisstyle.com/2013/04/will-i-steal-a-timeline-of-tracks-stolen-by-will-i-am.html

 

Thanks for this helpful information!

Btw., I found this text suprisingly hard to read with all the upper/lower case madness.

 

in usa you can copywrite an entire catalog (all your songs) at the library of congress for 50 dollars using ecopyright. If you think you will make millions on a particular song, you should copyright it individually.

 

According to the United States Copyright Office: "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."
That statement can be found in the USCO's FAQ page [here]
So, let's put this to rest. The poor man's law is a gamble. IT IS NOT a formal nor an official protection under any U.S. law!

As much as it is possible that you can argue your case in court, it is as much any lawyer would be quick to remind you of the failure for not officially copyright your work through the proper channel. The law of the land will overtake and trump the "poor man's law" without proper papers filled to back that up; especially if the other person end up filling for copyright and you never have.
As soon as somebody take your work and redone it slightly different than yours there's gonna be so much to prove, so many questions will get thrown at you and before you know it, you will be overwhelmed if not fully prepared to defend your claims. Your only chance (without copyrighting papers) will be if the work stays exact and untouched; and that's a chance, not an outright victory. Such was the case with Lady Gaga v. Rebecca Francescatti, where Rebecca accused Gaga of copying the track Judas. Even with her copyright in her pocket, she still lost to Gaga.
Again, that case went beyond who did it first and who has the stems. Both artists had their own files to show, stories and people to back them up. However, it is more complicated than that in court, just like in a criminal case, it is not that easy to show up and say "I didn't kill anybody". Copyright cases can ling around in courts for months (excluding appeals).

I tell any artist I work with, if you are serious about your work, don't hang all your chance on "The poor man's law" or simply showing "stems"; After learning from my mistake of early years (YES, I got burnt myself), I read and research the law surrounding the industry I love and live for, filling copyright papers with the government is simply a mandatory step in securing your work; it's worth it.