Song registration / copyright

[Satchwood]

Hey fellow recording artists.  I was wondering if any of you use a song registration or copyright service?  I've checked into 2 of them so far:

www.songresgistration.com

and

www.worldwideocr.com

Any recomendations or suggestions?

[visiblemember]

It's a topic I've been needing to get a handle on.
http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/   I just spent ten min. here reading and am a bit more interested, but not really more informed. I wonder if proliferation and repetition alone can secure original material. What if I just put my name on everything that I write?

 

[jkevinwolfe]

The first link didn't connect for me. The second (OCR) appears to only protect your copyright in the US and not the world as suggested on the site. I didn't dig any deeper to see what they're charging, but you can register it yourself online with the Copyright office. I did this recently and it's a pain, but I doubt the process is any swifter than what they're offering. And of course they're charge you an extra fee for doing it. It's $35 if you do it yourself at:

http://www.copyright.gov/eco/index.html

As to protection, your work is technically copyrighted at the moment of creation. You're just notifying the copyright office of its existence. You can put "c2009 John Doe" right now on all your work without filing. Filing just gives you an ironclad case if someone tries to steal your work. And I'm assuming you really do want an ironclad case.

Example: If someone were to steal your work and you were to go after them (or were to accuse you of stealing their work), a copyright document can save you a lot of money. If their lawyer sees a cease and desist notice and the copyright document from you, and the crook they represent has no proof to the song before the recorded copyright date, there's a good chance the laywer will advise them to stop laying claim and stop using the work. Technically they owe you for it's use and a lawyer will see that if it goes to court you'll win and be able to get damages.

As to the $35 cost, there are ways around this. I'd recommend copyrighting a CD of your work that you're selling. But you could copyright a collection of say 50 recorded songs or 100 songs completely scored in sheet music. You could then create your CDs with selections from the collection. The collection can be demo quality recordings, they do not have to be the released version. As long as the melody and lyrics are the same in your final, that works.

[dragonshade]

BTW if you are in the USA you must have a registered copyright with the US copyright office to legally protect yourself. Yes you may be able to prove you are original creator but legally you have no claim, and cannot legally sue anyone for anything even if it becomes a hit and they are at the awards show playing your song. This has been documented.

The advantage of a copyright service is speed. Mailing in a CD to the copyright office it can take a year before it is actually done, and you have no way to check during the process. A service cuts this down to months and gives you proof from the copyright office that you have applied for the copyright almost immediately.

[jkevinwolfe]

Actually these services can't do it any faster. You can upload your tracks directly to the copyright office.

Technically you're protected under US Copyright law without filing, but as mentioned earlier a lawyer can't contest copyright paperwork. Filing dates are etched in stone and their client can't legally claim creation after that date.

Even if you have filed, there still could be issue with he timeframe between when you claim the work was created when you filed. Example: You're claiming the work is from 2000 but you filed in 2008. If someone claimed they did that work in 2003, you'd have to prove them wrong. If they claimed they did it in 2009, there's no case.