COPYRIGHTS
The most important step to protect your
music, beats and intellectual property rights,
will be making sure that you have registered
your music with the Copyright Office
By Definition, What is A Copyright?
A Copyright is the exclusive right, granted by
law for a stated period, usually until 70 years
after the death of the surviving author of the
work, to make, dispose of, and otherwise control
copies
of literary, musical, dramatic, pictorial and
other copyrightable works. The exclusive right
is set forth in the 1976 Copyright Act Section
106.
Now, the law says that Copyright is secured
automatically when the work is created, and
a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy,
and that your music actually has a legitimate
copyright as soon as you can get your song or
music “fixed” into a tangible format of
expression. This just means that you either
need to get your song recorded into some type of
recorder, or get it written down or logged into
some type of records file. But to truly protect
yourself, along with some very great advantages
and benefits that are backed by the US
Government, it’s best to register your music
with the Copyright Office.
By registering your music with the Copyright
Office, you will not only have a better record
of proof that you are the owner of the music,
but you will also get certain rights when it
comes to lawsuits, and benefits for you if you
must make a claim for copyright infringement…
just incase someone uses your music without
your permission or the right to do so.
How to
register your song or beats
To register your song with the Copyright office,
do the following:
1.
Send a request for a form SR or PA application
to the Copyright Office, Library of Congress,
101 Independence Avenue, S E., Washington, D.C.
20559-6000 or download the application from the
website:
www.copyright.gov
2.
When the application is completed (properly),
send it back to the Copyright Office with:
(b) If published -
Two copies of manuscript (sheet
music) OR a sound recording of the best edition…and
(c)
The appropriate non-refundable
registration fee, which is presently $45, by
money order, bank draft or check, made payable
to Register of Copyrights. ( see
current fees)
Now, the wait time for application processing,
and getting you your certificate back in the
mail is kind of long (about 5 to 6 months), but
your song is actually registered as soon as the
Copyright Office gets your package
(if everything is correct
in the package; the application, and the fee).
Form PA, Form SR - SO, WHICH ONE?
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VERY IMPORTANT NOTES:
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If you are the owner of both the
song composition, and the sound
recording of the particular song,
you can just use Copyright Form SR
to register both of these separate
elements as one registration. This
is sometimes normal when it comes to
producers who write their own music
and then record it as a production.
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