The Music Business Section -

Copyrighting Your Music

Have you ever spent a night picking out a song on the piano or guitar, feverishly putting pen to paper as you perfected the chords and lyrics to the music?  Are you inclined to rush out to the street, local tavern, or bookstore to let the world hear the music you have written?  There should be a little voice in your head whispering “copyright this” before you let your song out into the wild – and the potential source for you to lose your right to ever perform it again.  But you think copyrighting the song is a difficult and expensive task, so why bother?

Copyrighting any written or recorded work is actually a very straightforward affair, and one that the original founders of the United States wanted you to do.  Right there in the Article 1 of the Constitution, Congress is required “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries…” 

Copyright existed for hundreds of years prior to the formation of the United States, although the general reason for the laws governing copyrighting have remained the same – to promote the creation of new creative works.

In the United States, a copyright exists as soon as the original creator has made a physical copy of their work.  You cannot copyright a performance, only something tangible.  Even setting it into digital format fits this description. 

To be a valid copyright in the U.S., the piece needs to bear three identifying marks.

1. The word “Copyright” or the “©” symbol, or the more archaic “Copyr.”;
2. The year the work was created;
3. The creator’s name (this can be more than one person).

That’s it, that creates the copyright.  However, creating it is not enough, you need to also have proof that you created it in case someone steals your work and you want to challenge their use of your song and/or music.

The most effective means of making sure your copyright will hold up (called “perfecting the copyright”) is to register your work with the Library of Congress.  When you mail yourself your copy of the music, you should simultaneously file an application with the Library of Congress for copyright protection.  The forms and current fees for registering your work are available online at the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office.  A description of all the different copyright forms is also available on the Library of Congress website.

The Library of Congress is also testing as of October 2007 an online registration system, with a lower fee.  Currently, the filing fee is $45 for paper submissions, and $10 for electronic submissions.  This will put a copy of your original song into the federal register, for comparison in case your copyright is violated.

So, get going on making your music, but protect yourself by copyrighting your songs and protecting your work.

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