Dear Webmaster,

I write because I am curious about the increase in the number of pages of songs in the User Forum. It used to be that there were only around six or so. Tonight I looked down and saw that it's now 18. Is this correct? There's now over 12 months of posts on display.

What concerns me is that by having my songs on-site for 3 or 4 times as long, the chance of my material potentially being ripped off is far greater.

I find myself wondering whether or not PG Music fully appreciates one of the aspects of copyright that is unique (for a short while at least) to a song's composer.

This aspect is that a composer has the exclusive right to choose who get's to first record his or her song PROVIDED the song has not been performed publicly (usually interpreted as meaning "for more than family and friends", as I understand it). Once a song has entered the public arena, the composer loses this right and any artist whatsoever is free to use the song for their projects without any consultation with the composer provided the artist pays the relevant copyright owner the required fees. (See the bottom of page 6 in the below pdf file.)

... copyright laws explained (pdf file)

This leads me to one aspect of my dilemma.

It is because of the above that I don't post completed works in the Users Forum. For me, this forum is about getting ideas that will help me take my song to the next level. That being said, though, the longer I leave a draft of a song available to public scrutiny, the more it could be argued that that draft is actually a final draft rather than a work in progress.

A second aspect of my dilemma is ...

I love to use BIAB to write original songs. It's an absolutely brilliant tool. I also get a bit of a kick out of letting others hear what I have done and I thoroughly enjoy sharing how I go about creating my works. As a consequence of help and advice from this forum in addition to my own study, I believe that my songs are getting a little better these days. I now have every wish to sell them. To this end, I've even had some recent success with publishers.

Because I wish to keep my material "fresh" for potential artists and publishers, I baulk at leaving my songs too long in the public arena. I was happy with PG Music's previous system but I presently find that I am feeling uneasy about leaving them on-site for longer.

If indeed PG Music plans to keep the display in its extended duration format, it's enough to stop me posting my work. Alternatively, I guess I could always remove my songs from the external site that my posts' links access so that the songs are no longer available to the world. The downside of doing this is that it will leave redundant posts in the forum.

Kind regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2026