At what point should a band consider copyrighting a song? My band has been whipping out originals and posting them around and we're thinking about sending them to a couple radio stations, making cd's and putting them on iTunes. When is it a good idea to copyright songs?
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Copyrighting
- Thread starter Bassman203
- Start date
If you're going public with your music and trying to go somewhere with it, you NEED to be copyright protected. Do it ASAP. Seriously.
The author of a song acquires copyright protection as soon as the song is fixed in any tangible medium. In other words, as soon as the song is recorded or written down, copyright protection exists. Registration with the Copyright Office is not required to secure copyright.
Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, there are several advantages to completing a registration. Most significantly, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin before an infringement suit may be filed in court. Registration also serves as public notice of the claim of copyright, and if within five years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright.
Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, there are several advantages to completing a registration. Most significantly, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin before an infringement suit may be filed in court. Registration also serves as public notice of the claim of copyright, and if within five years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright.
Everything he said is on target. Copyright exists at the moment you create something in a tangible medium (for example, on paper, recorded audio or video). The challenge is to prove the date. More than once I have mailed myself a copy of something to get a postmark on the envelope, then simply filed the envelope unopened. It's a nice record of date of creation.
Actually registering the copyright is an optional step, but as pointed out above, it can be a good idea.
You can't mount an infringement suit without it, as pointed out.
But what are the odds of you ever profitably winning an infringement case anyway?
Very slim.
