PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Songwriting What Is The Easiest Way To Copyright A Song?

Copyright ....

So, to copyright in the USA, the only correct way to do it is through the US Library of Congress. (USLOC) To save money, copyright a group of songs... (2 or more) at the same time and list it as a collection. If an artist then decides to record the song, the publisher will pay for the copyright fees to copyright the song as a single song. When that happens, you have generally signed the song to a publisher and you no longer own the rights anyway.

As far as writing and copyrighting your own stuff.... the collection is the best bet.

However, all that said..... using the mail it to yourself doesn't work or hold up in court, so don't waste your time. Third party registrations and using the time/date stamp of a server works as good as anything short of a full USLOC copyright. USLOC is not a copyright....it's the registration of the copyright. The copyright is created when you first record the song in a tangible form.

Then, there's what I do. I don't copyright my songs. Yeah I use a third party registration site called SONGUARD but I don't bother with copyrights on the songs. Yes I place the symbol on my stuff....because there's an automatic copyright in place when you record the song for the first time.

I figured out that no one is out there wanting to steal my songs. Nope.... as hard as it is to just get someone to listen.... lets be real. So I don't waste money on copyright. I have some songs copyrighted, but they are signed to a publisher and the publisher did all the paperwork and paid the fees.

Of course, if you sleep better at night with copyrights.... get it done.

I love this subject. Songuard. Never heard of that! Cool.

Paul Zollo just published his follow up tome, "More Songwriters on Songwriting"... He interviewed John Prine who talked about mailing himself his first recording (I don't remember if it was reel to reel?, and lyrics), before he was discovered. This was Hello In There, and Donald & Lydia, et al... Wow... He said he'd forgotten about it and it was unopened for 20 years (or something like that). Pretty funny. "The Mailman Delivers."

Paul also interviewed James Taylor and one subject was "Something In the Way She Moves," "Something", and George Harrison. It was pretty cool. JT didn't point a finger, said there were similarities but words are finite and there's nothing new under the sun.

But labels & publishers...$$$....they battled it out for what, 15 years?

Good luck with your letter or email or webpage as Exhibit "A." If there's real money involved, that is not self-proving evidence and you won't find a patent attorney to represent you without a 12-month* retainer.

Sure, the odds are slim, and if someone stole from me I'd probably wear it as a badge of honor.

But.....you know.... $$$$.....

It comes free with MasterWriter software. At the time, it was a free lifetime service offered when you bought the MasterWriter songwriter's software. Last time I registered a full song (vs short cues) it was still working so I guess they are true to their word.

It's not a copyright but it does provide a secure server date of origin.

I love Masterwriter, also; looked at it a few years ago. Powerful! I didn't go with it, I think the annual $ was beyond what I wanted to invest, but it is awesome. (I love a lot of inanimate things, I guess. I should look into that.)

Yeah I think they went to a subscription plan. I bought mine before they switched and have used it since.

All the comments about "if someone stole my song I would consider it an honor" yada yada would change VERY quickly if it became a hit & was used in TV shows, movies, etc for years.....and knowing that $$$ was being made for decades after the fact.

Just protect yourselves & get it copyrighted thru the gov in the USA......I have had 3 books since the 80's and don't worry about any of my tracks. I invest in instruments software to create the music, why not protect my interests?

Of course this subject is all IMHO, YMMV, etc etc....

Heck I can't give 'em away, why would anyone need to steal 'em.

There's a great "series" of articles on all things copyright on Musician's Unite Website.
The author is of course also selling his book, but the series of articles posted (free) is well worth the read.
(Administrator if I'm violating a rule, please let me know and I won't do it again, just trying to help out here with the link to the article itself...no spamming here at least not intentionally.)

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.musiciansunite.com/articles/royalties---oh-the-money-your-music-can-make.html

Waiting for lawsuits only makes lawyers money.

Register your catalog with the copyright office as it's only a one time expense (I believe around $50.00) then as you write new material you can just add it to your catalog.
This is good as in this biz volume of production matters.
A&R folks don't spend a lot of time just "carefully listening" to a specific song. They spend possibly about 15 seconds then move on to the next submission as they are getting thousands of submission per day if they are a large successful org.
They also troll YouTube, and other sites. So...
If they see consistency, and lot's of songs they can get a better feel for the artist. The large volume says to them that you are producing. In other words lot's of possibilities to make their client money.
It also shows them work ethic...you are putting time in each and every day making new material. This matters as if they do like your submissions and they do well for the client's requirements, that means instead of trolling for new...they are calling you back for more.
Think about it...while we all want to receive our Performance Rights and sync rights royalties...sometimes a given song that maybe you might not be crazy about, can generate a ton of ad revenue for you as a make up for the other songs that may not be "Killing It" on the royalties side. A balance.
Also, with your catalog registered in the copyright office, if someone does try to pirate your intellectual property, instead of doing a "Take Down" or a bunch of letters back and forth, you can go straight to "Hey man, this song is already registered with copyright office, let's make a deal." After all if the pirates biz is generating a ton of money, wouldn't it be better to just negotiate the price in royalties for usage and leave it up and running? It is after all your income.
Perfect example of this is a Little Feat Song called "Let It Roll." release back in the 80's I believe. This band while hugely popular with it's fan base has always had problems with labels not doing enough to keep the energy alive. They released the song, it was a minor hit on radio for a bit but died like a lot of their other songs. BUT... it was picked up by a whole slew of Cable Networks for their original films. (lifetime, and others) so they wound up making a lot of royalties from the sync licensing for the films that were being broadcast everywhere on the different (and often separate networks) channels via cable.
So always do the copyright. No one likes law suits except lawyers.

Thank you... no brainer, register your catalog with the copyright office and save yourself a world of hassles.

ad revenue...adsense, affiliate marketing etc.

I know you can register single songs and collections of songs but both of those are a one time deal. I've never heard of any sort of "open catalog" where you pay $50 one time and can then "just add....(new material) ... to your catalog" as you write it.

Heck I'd have been doing that if it existed. I did look on the LOC website because that would be really cool and a great deal for any writer. I couldn't find it.

Please correct me if I'm wrong

Also, I've never had anyone other than scammers contact me because of a song on a social media site. All of my contacts and placements that are legit, came from me contacting the library/publisher, and them vetting the quality of my music, then signing it.