Help with copyrights

joeysnare

joeysnare

Silver Member
Im not sure if this belongs in general discussion, feel free to move this thread if im mistaken.
Now my band has just finished cutting our first album of which im very proud :). It now falls to us to protect our work. Id like to know whats the best way to go about this. Ive read about copyrighting induvidual songs,and also have heard about a loop hole where you can title the album as "greatest hits" and copyright the entire thing for the price of one song. Is there any truth to this? Also do the laws on this vary from country to country? we currently reside in canada.
Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Keep drumming \m/ \m/
 
You may try sending a PM to Paul Quin, forum member. He is an attorney in the music business.
 
You've got a bit of problem here with some terms. I'll try and explain what the problem is, then give you some links you'll need to read and follow up to get a better understanding of it. Understand I'm in Australia, so whilst the laws are all basically the same, the organizations are different.

Anyway. Here's how it works (as I understand from my classes a couple years ago on Music Copyright):

Copyright is automatic. There is no need (or even a way) to copyright your music under current laws. As the music is created (written) copyright comes into being. To better understand this: I could write a song in the next 10 minutes. Pull out my guitar, strum a couple chords, make up a couple lines of lyric with a melody. I take out a piece of paper, write down the chords, the lyrics, and maybe an approximation of the melody. I write the title of my song "Blue Skies" at the top, together with my name.

This song "Blue Skies" has now been copywritten under my name. It is my song. If someone else attempts to record it or perform it as their own song, I have the right to sue, and I SHOULD win in a court of law.

Here's the tricky bit: If it actually comes down to court you need to have proof that you were the person who wrote the song in question. It's no good telling the judge "oh, but I wrote "Blue Skies" in July of last year" unless you can back it up with substantial proof.

Here's where the organizations come into play. In Australia, there's several ways to ensure your work remains your own. These include: creating a physical copy of the work (written/recorded) and mailing it to yourself. When you receive the letter keep it closed, and it'll have the date stamped on it. Maintaining a song writing diary with accurate records of when and what you've written. Registering your work with one of several organizations. We have a group called APRA (Australasian Perfoming Rights Association), but there's also various copyright offices.

There is also copyright that exists on a sound recording (in your case, your album). This prevents other people from copying your album and selling it without your permission.

Anyway. I would suggest you follow this link: It gives you a pretty straightforward, step by step method to copyright your album.
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/internet/how2copyright.htm
 
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The mail thing was told to me some years ago. You put the song in a letter, package, CD, whatever and you send it to yourself Registered mail and do not open it. It will be postmarked with a date and you will have proof of delivery. But talk to a lawyer or do a bunch of research to make sure.
 
A couple of questions for you: is this important to you? Do you hope to make any money out of these songs? What is the purpose behind your copyright? If the answer to either of the first two questions is yes, please don't take the advice of a forum member instead of getting a lawyer. You are in Canada and, therefore, you need to talk to a Canadian lawyer. In regard to the third question, are you copyrighting this material because it will be released (either by you or someone else) and you need to protect royalties or are you just trying to protect yourself from someone copying your songs?

Oops is right that a song has a copyright as soon as it is reduced to a material form. In the US, however, there is very little evidence that the "poor man's copyright" (putting it in the mail) gives you anything. It may help provide some evidence of when the song was written but if the "material" at issue is a CD it should be time coded anyway. Where Oops is wrong - at least for the US - is that if you do need to sue or collect royalties, you must have registered the copyright. This is easy to do and you can learn online. The "loophole" to which you refer, at least in the US protects the album - as an album - and would not protect the individual songs themselves.

This is important stuff - go find an entertainment lawyer or an IP lawyer near you in Canada. If you succeed in this business it will be the best money you ever spent.

Paul
 
Paul Quin said:
A couple of questions for you: is this important to you? Do you hope to make any money out of these songs? What is the purpose behind your copyright? If the answer to either of the first two questions is yes, please don't take the advice of a forum member instead of getting a lawyer. You are in Canada and, therefore, you need to talk to a Canadian lawyer. In regard to the third question, are you copyrighting this material because it will be released (either by you or someone else) and you need to protect royalties or are you just trying to protect yourself from someone copying your songs?

Oops is right that a song has a copyright as soon as it is reduced to a material form. In the US, however, there is very little evidence that the "poor man's copyright" (putting it in the mail) gives you anything. It may help provide some evidence of when the song was written but if the "material" at issue is a CD it should be time coded anyway. Where Oops is wrong - at least for the US - is that if you do need to sue or collect royalties, you must have registered the copyright. This is easy to do and you can learn online. The "loophole" to which you refer, at least in the US protects the album - as an album - and would not protect the individual songs themselves.

This is important stuff - go find an entertainment lawyer or an IP lawyer near you in Canada. If you succeed in this business it will be the best money you ever spent.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying... I would follow this advice over my own any day, and I'd also suggest you visit a lawyer.
 
yes we are consulting a lawyer as soon as possible. and we are concerned about royalties, it will maybe never happen but we are hoping to make a legitimate go at this "be a rock star " thing. id rather fail trying then sit there wondering what if.
again thank you for all your advice guys \m/ \m/
 
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