Sorry @Smoove Grooves, I live here in Germany and only know the system here. Never heard of PRS MCPS Pamra. Germany is very strict and everything is standardized and, through us, EU law. I already wrote about the copyright in the first answer. (Reply #2)

 

Good thread. I'm also wondering do I need to work with PRO that works in my country? or can I use, for instance, ASCAP or PRS if my music is played in USA or in the UK but I live in another country?

 

You have to go to their websites yourself and do some research.
Should you ever get famous, your record company will take care of it.

 

Interesting, I didn't know it works that way. I was not thinking of royalties, but rather of people who steal your track and claim that they've made it themselves. Apparently without a registration you can't even sue them at all.

 

In The USA, your work is technically copyrighted the moment it is created. If you desire to register your copyright in the USA, it is done through the Library of Congress. Applications and instructions are available at their Website: https://www.copyright.gov/

 

you can be sure he did not mean what he asked.

registering your copyright works the same way as registering for your right of free speech.

 

many people think that it works like that, but that is wrong. ;)

the copyright is a human right, in most countries a constitutional right, and then there are laws which regulate the details.

and if somebody violates your rights, you can sue him at any time.

beeing a member of a collecting society can make things a bit easier, because in some possible situations they will do it for you(!), but in others not.


the main difference is the practice.

when you publish your track and someone wants to play it, and the track is not registered, he would have to contact you and ask if he may use it and what you want for it.
when you think 30 years back, a telephone call across the atlantic already costed him more than such a fee.

this is where collection societies come to play, debt collection is their main purpose.

the organizer either only plays free tracks (his own compositions, public domain, creative commons, or promotional copies which are registered but free to use), or he also plays registered material and then he has to pay a flat rate or individual fee to his local collecting society.

back in the days everyone wanted to be a member, because otherwise you wouldnt get any airplay, for the same reason discussed above. today, and to distribute your music yourself, it is almost irrelevant.

 

Last edited: Sep 3, 2021

Yes and Yes. It's simply a fact. But to give an example, in most EU countries a "spoken agreement" is legally enforceable ..yet, would you take any chance regarding any serious matter, by not having a written/signed contract/agreement?

And in case you want to claim copyright infringement, you have to register with the appropriate entity first anyway.

Yes. The so called "poor man's copyright" isn't really effective for reasons you mentioned, a judge disregarding certain evidence etc.

You can use your country's service to quickly register copyright of your work. You can use other countries' services for other things, like collecting royalties. E.g., I use GEMA (German) in addition to mine..

 

It's wrong. You can sue them if you are able to prove that this track has been produced by you. I'm sure showing to court your project' data (DAW project with MIDI, synths etc.) is sufficient. You show how you've done it, people who stole your tracks usually aren't able to demonstrate this. They own only audio files.

Yes, if somebody steals all your materials it will make a court examination more complicated. But you still could try to prove that they were stolen.

If you want to secure oneself against it copy your materials on a DVD, Blu-Ray disc, HDD or flash drive and send it to yourself by a registered postage. Don't open it. If you have this you could prove that you have possessed all these materials before your opponent. All dates (on a package, in properties of files) are important.

Yes, your opponents could say that it's you who stole these tracks and then sent all the materials to yourself. But they must prove this. And any registration in any copyright organisation cannot secure you against such a strategy (your opponents could say that you stole their tracks and then copyright them). But this is court, all is possible, people defend themseves.

 

No. It may be important. When a judge disregards certain evidence you may dispute his/her decision.

 

However, you can forget about copyright if the things you have created are offered for free download by software pirates on illegal websites. This is also the reason why the film and music industry takes action against illegal servers.

 

The safest method is to have it deposited with a notary, or there are various providers on the web who digitally protect a work but costs a certain amount per year for each title but after years it could be expensive, or write an email with your song title as an attachment. mp3 then to send another email, but do not open this email, the timestamp of the respective provider of the email provider can thus prove that according to the date of the first you have this song title. But GEMA, as some claim here, is wrong that GEMA is a pure collection agency and has absolutely nothing to do with protecting your works! The work registration as the author is only used for the correct exploitation and administration of your rights. It has no legal basis and can never be used as evidence! But the safest method is a notarial deposit, but it is only worthwhile if you earn a lot with a song or album.

 

So only going to the notary is really bombproof.
Depositing a CD with a notary costs 80 euros for 1 year and 25 euros for each additional year! + -

How can I get additional protection for my song?

As mentioned earlier, copyright rules and regulations help protect your music. However, since there is no registration or official deposit, there is no legal evidence of when a song was created. A circumstance that can make it more difficult to determine whether a song is the original or a plagiarism.

Therefore, many musicians ask themselves how they can protect their music additionally. For many years there has been a misconception in forums that a letter with a data carrier and sent to yourself is sufficient as proof of the date of a song's creation. However, this method offers a high risk of manipulation, which is why the evidential value in court is rather low.

On the other hand, it is more legally secure if you protect your music through a notary. Because the notarial deposit can serve as evidence in a legal dispute. However, not all notaries take custody of works protected by copyright. In addition, this procedure is associated with costs.

 

Last edited: Sep 4, 2021

the ascap takes europeans, other american societies are by invite only.

however in most countries the collection society is a monpolistic system, which means as a resident you may only choose your own.

in germany that has been relaxed in 2013, and since then we have an alternative collection society where you can choose CC. with them, you can also choose to register your first album but not the second. ("titcle exclusive", just as when you are independent and work with different publishers at the same time)

and since then it is also easier to become a member of the ascap if you are a composer or publisher but live in germany.

if it makes sense is another question.

 

to protect intellectual property you can choose to not publish it but keep it in your head.

as soon as you publish a music title or a medical patent, you risk that somebody uses it. this is basically why you publish things: you want people to use it.

(there are many composers or bookwriters who do not produce copies of their works at all, they create, publish, and then try to find someone who wants to make money with it)

and yes, sometimes people also steal stuff. but it would be highly risky for a rich asshole to use your composition and then claim he would have written it, because he cant know in advance if you can prove that it is yours or not. and if he loses the case, he will be prosecuted for fraud afterwards.

i have never heard about anything like that.

 

you mix up the production with the composition.

stealing a composition works by knowing the composition and using it. that can easily be done by listing to the original and reproducing it.

that you can show how you produced it means nothing. you could be the thief who copied the melody from the other party.

the other party also can easily show how he produced a song with your melody. :P

 

Hello @Obineg, I think it's a very refreshing post.

I've been doing sound design for 12 years - but I don't have to live on it, everything
is free - without advertising and taxes and that's why the license looks like this:

Royalty Free Soundset License
All ' Sonic Sirius ' Freeware Soundsets they can be used commercially
in things like movies, games,and anything else you might need a cool
sound for. You may not however redistribute them for a profit.

Sonic Sirius - Synthesizer Soundsets
Freeware Soundsets for Software and Hardware Synthesizer
http://ohlenbostelhelge.magix.net/public/

 

And was called The Fappening!

 

inventing a custom "license model" - or just saying nothing - are the two best license models you can have when sharing software.

if you say it is public domain, "pornhub" oder "NPD" can use it.

if you choose to ask for a fee and make weird restrictions, it might piss off people or even brakes the law (rückgaberecht? schadenshaftung? zugesicherte eigenschaften? usw.)

though sometimes CC models have a few advantages: since the models are standardized, the user can immediately know what he may do and what not, and you are kind of supporting the movement behind it.


btw, in germany it is quite difficult to have soundsets protected by copyright law. the few known cases were all won by the users/redistributors.
so if you would ask for 5 euros, you would more or less depend on the goodwill of those who receice the service, and not be protected by the law. and i think this is great.
plus, in case you want to make money with it, it even works out. free to play is currently the most successful business model for online games.

 

There are dichotomies in this question. Not because it is a bad question because it is not. It is simply a loaded question with several answers.
Most of what I have read is accurate. The fact is that the moment you compose something, you do own it as long as you have not ripped off someone else, then it is theoretically copyrighted. You can put the ©MyName on it and do the same.
At a corporate level without money you can register it immediately with your country's Royalty collection service - ASCAP, APRA, SACEM, PRS, PPL, MCPS etc etc and it is copyrighted in registration.

There is a difference between licensing and copyrighting, however.
In direct relation to the question "Which sites do you use?" I register with my country's royalty collection agency. Whether that is ASCAP or any of them, if your music is broadcast or played they'll collect royalties for you and your music is protected other than Spotify who won't care if it is copyrighted or not and still take 99% of the profits from your music.
The problem with streaming sites is the Royalty collection agencies got on the bandwagon and agreed (on your behalf and everyone else's) to accept the abuse of intellectual and mechanical copyright. They'll try and tell you it is acceptable to have someone else take nearly everything when they paid nothing towards it. Just ask them - they will avoid 'abuse', 'extortion' and all terms and use only 'agreement', but it is the same thing. Copyright? Just look at the sister site. It is almost non-existent because nearly everything you can get for free because someone has copied it.

So yes, a loaded question with too many answers and opinions.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 5, 2021