The good old "poor man`s copyright"...its better to get it properly copyrighted though,these kind of copyrights can be dismissed as evidence by a good lawyer,i wouldnt count on this method.

 

Greetz,

The Best Thing 4 U 2 Do Iz 2 Just Contact Organizations (i.e. ASCAP As Well As Others) that Deal With These Sortz Of Issues. Explain What Happened & See If They Could Have Been Able 2 Help Or Not. You'd At Least Get Some General Ideaz Of What To Do In These Situationz In The Future. Also Just Start Asking 2 The Sourcez That Can Clearly Answer Your Questions. If They Aren't Willing 2 At Least Give You A General FREE Idea Of Whether They Can Help Or Not, Just Keep Looking, U Will Eventually Find Low Cost Or FREE Answers/Help.

Hope This Helps.

 

Hi
I really like the french language and love to hear it spoken, as I love France.
But I don't understand a word that isn't about ordering a meal in a restaurant.
So, if you for instance don't like to read the German's bloody language, wouldn't it be more courteous to write in english or, even better, bilingual, as this part of the forum is mainly english?

 

Hi.Sometimes singers are very busy and as soon as they get another lucrative deal they immediately jump at the chance.Give this guy some time and he will get back to you.Options to consider....
1.He May have shifted residence.
2.Lost his phone?
3.Not well.In hospital?
4.Accident
5.No cellphone signal where he is at?
The list is quite long if you look at it this way.Give it some time.He will definitely contact you.What is he going to do with an mp3?All's well that ends well.

 

Bien vu, mais il y en qui malgré ça n'ont aucun scrupules, un monde de vautours... vue la lenteur de nos administrations (en France) et donc de la justice, ces requins n'ont pas de soucis à se faire (pour peu qu'il y ait une prescription). Apologize about this reply in French language.

 

google translate isn't perfect, but it works well enough to get the gist of the comments. in my browser, all i have to do is highlight the text, right-click, and select "google translate selection" to get a rough approximation of what was said.

 

@realitybytez
For single words it may be sufficient, but google is incredibly bad for whole sentences, especially if they are more complicated, nested or the topic is quite technically. Google translations are a pain in the ass.
In this case, I didn't understand the google translation. Even my bad college latin helped me more.
I hope our Greek, Chinese, Russian mates will do me the favor to remain speaking english in this part of the forum.

 

this is a form of "proper copyright" and has worked numerous times in court.

 

Please don't take this post the wrong way, but the likely hood of your song being stolen is 0. Why? What purpose? Yeah, it happens but very rarely. Had the singer heard the track before you sent it to him? Maybe he just decided he didn't want to work with you and doesn't want to tell you. Don't let it bother you. Just keep writing music!

The poor man copyright is always a good thing to do because you can't copyright a chord progression. It needs a melody. Don't worry about long legal documents either. If somebody tries to get me to sign a contract like that before we start working, well, no thanks.

 

@rickbarratt
@julianbre

No man,that might have worked for some people in the 70s,trust me,its a brutal world,get it done properly,local PRS or a world PRS + copyright agency.
That works 1000% better,proven on courts than poor mans copyright.
There are hyenas out there,waiting for people like you to make such a mistake as using the poor man`s copyright.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 28, 2016

themask1005, most probably the guy is just "hiding" because of stress of not having finished the lyrics.
and the more you try to contact him the more he stresses. some musicians are very moody and often disappear until they are ready.
good luck though

 

As I said in my previous post, my comments are no reflection of your talents or songwriting. I have no idea. The thing is music, especially with no melody or words really has no intrinsic value. What are they going to do, get a record deal off your song and make millions? Not likely. EddieXx is probably a lot closer to the truth. Vocalist are very moody people to work with. You might get a call from this singer in 6 month's like nothing ever happened. Drink a beer, relax, it's only music.

I actually had the bridge of one of my songs nicked by a very famous artist. How do I know? I personally gave him a copy of the song. About 6 months later I had several record company people call me up to congratulate me on having my song on the radio. They had all heard my demos. Strange feeling. Did I sue? Not a chance. Loosing battle. I Was glad somebody liked it enough to nick it and kept writing more songs.

At this point, poor man's copyright is still the best way until your published. Copyrighting every song you write can get very expensive very fast and there are downsides to CR your songs as a collection. Just CR the one's that are going on an album or whatever medium you would release them on.

 

best advice I've read here about another similar case. spend 100 euros and join Ascap http://www.ascap.com
it s union for song writers and they will defend you in cases like this.

"the music Business is a dark , evil, back stabbing, miserable world...... then there is the bad side"

 

Your work got stolen,you lost money and some asshole is now cashing in on your ideas,yet you still claim poor man`s copyright is the best you can do?
You dont need to be published,if you join a PRS you can register your material and if you dont have a publisher or you dont own a publishing company you still get all of the profits if you solely own the song.
But PRS is not enough,you need copyright as well.
Music business isnt cheap,you just have to invest a little,so if money is an issue choose a few songs and copyiright those you wish to sell or upload,choose only a number you can afford.
You will certainly get ripped of again,because you havent learned anything mate.
Dont be naive,poor mans copyright is as valid as those fake 5$ diplomas you can buy online.

 

Not exactly.
Im a BMI songwriter/composer/producer.
They will not defend you in the court of law,however they keep all the registered information in their vault and if that time comes that you may have to prove that you indeed are the author of a song in question that was stolen from you,then they will merely provide the court with official documents which will still have to be used by your lawyer who will represent you and your evidence in the court of law.
The thing is without those documents you are pretty much screwed.
In certain cases performance rights organizations may provide their experts which will speak in behaf of a PRS.
Though you will also need to have your copyright documents and the song itself provided officially from the US or any other international valid Copyright office.
Lets summarize.
You need PRS documents(your registration song info) + copyright documents(copyright papers + song).

 

Thing is, that song did have a copyright at the time because it was being shopped. Read the story about how well Lloyd Chiate's lawsuit went against Stevie Wonder. I don't think Lloyd ever sold another song after that.

 

You mean he "won" that case against Wonder,which he actually lost?
Copied article.

CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
Wonder Wins Suit Over Song
February 23, 1990 | HENRY WEINSTEIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Pop star Stevie Wonder won a major copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday when a Los Angeles federal court jury found that the blind singer-composer did not plagiarize the award-winning song "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from another songwriter. "God is good. I knew the truth all along," Wonder told a crush of reporters outside the U.S. District Courthouse after the verdict was announced.

​

 

I guess defend was the wrong word, i didn't mean they send out lawyers on your behalf. Just an organisation that will stand behind you and say "yea he wrote this" like you said sorry if i misled anyone

 

I'm saying he LOST! Good luck my friend suing in court. You will never win! Copyright or no copyright.