Question about ethics of songwriting

[Aged_Clayman]

Hello TB, I need your advice

My question is a rather short one and I`m sure it happened to a lot of us. So here`s the story.

I`ve recently left a rather low quality (but an all-girl) band, been with them for something like a month and "gigged" once at this college, where the drummer studies.
And among other things, I wrote a small, just bass, kind of a song to accompany some lyrics they already got - and to my surprise they liked it. And today they`ve asked me if they could keep the song. I really don`t mind, but here comes the question:
Can you still play a song you wrote if you`ve already "given" it to somebody else? I realise it doesn`t matter, since it`s unlikely that the song would be played anywhere outside the practise space, but what do you think?

Thanks in advance,
Clayman.

[baalroo]

Yeah, absolutely. heck, Megadeth and Metallica each have a few of the same songs released on their albums since Mustaine was originally in metallica and helped them write some of the stuff.

[Jonny B]

I can't see why not.

It's not like it has been copyrighted.

[Aged_Clayman]

Thanks a lot, just gave the song away, it feels good to be so generous

[Bard2dbone]

Originally Posted by Jonny B

I can't see why not.

It's not like it has been copyrighted.

Actually, until the law is changed, which they've been threatening to do, as soon as you write something, it IS copyrighted to you. The whole paperwork process is to PROVE it's copyrighted to you.

In summary: You write it. It's yours. But you have no proof. You give money to a lawyer. It's still yours, but now people believe you.

Or you could do 'the poor man's copyright' and mail the lyrics to yourself and don't open the envelope. Then you have a government-recognized dated document that says you had these lyrics as of this date.

The copyright process going through the legal hoops you have to jump through, costs the same whether it's one song, or an albums worth. So it makes good sense to do the envelope thing as long as you are not playing out on a large scale. Then once you record the CD's you're going to try to sell at your shows, THEN go see the lawyer.

[dancehallclasher]

Originally Posted by Aged_Clayman

Can you still play a song you wrote if you`ve already "given" it to somebody else? I realise it doesn`t matter, since it`s unlikely that the song would be played anywhere outside the practise space, but what do you think?

Not only can you do that, you can even play songs that you haven't written in the first place!

[Bard2dbone]

Originally Posted by dancehallclasher

Not only can you do that, you can even play songs that you haven't written in the first place!

Just don't try to claim they're yours. Or the douchebag curse will befall you. Near as I can tell, it makes your pubic hair fall out and your nippples invert.

It's called the douchebag curse because that was all the douchebag who wrote the spell could think of at the time. I mean seriously, inverted nipples and a bald crotch? That's the best he could come up with?

Just hope you never incur the vindictive little $#!+head curse. Scary.

By the way, this was my Halloween themed post for the year. It will be the only one. I'm cutting down.