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I read through this thread: https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/how-to-copyright-your-catalog/
… wherein an attorney tells us that copyrighting as a collection is dubious at best [edited by moderator].
So, I’m reading Emmett Cooke’s books “The Business of Licensing Music” and he recommends copyrighting everything. I take it that is the received wisdom.
Why?
I’m registering my titles with ASCAP. Can someone convince me I need to copyright, too, at 35. or 40. a pop? As with most people here on this Forum, we’re talking about music of short duration (“cues”) that will most of the time earn 100. – 200. when someone picks it up for use.
Hi There,
In theory, once you have written a song or a piece, you gain automatically the copyright. The whole point is to prove it, that is why you need a third party.
35-40$ a pop! well that’s rough, I pay about 7-8 Euros for around 6-8 songs using France-Copyright (i.e. per zip file of 128MB). The deposit under notary proves that from the date of the deposit, everything in the file is yours (you can also include your artwork, lyrics and even variations). I also deposit ideas and tunes in the making as light mp3s. As this process is made according to the Berne Convention (most of the countries in the world signed it), I can sleep tight at night knowing, that whatever happens, I’m good.
There is not only the scenario of the big company that does not want recognize your rights… Just imagine, someone rips all your non-copyrighted tracks, and deposit them under their own name… If you haven’t copyrighted them, well you are (in theory) screwed and the thief can start exploiting your material. You could always prove with the assistance of library owners that you uploaded the songs before the thief’s copyright deposit date however, it would probably be quite a costly and long process…
I’m registering my titles with ASCAP. Can someone convince me I need to copyright, too, at 35. or 40. a pop? As with most people here on this Forum, we’re talking about music of short duration (“cues”) that will most of the time earn 100. – 200. when someone picks it up for use.
I strongly encourage you to copyright your songs. The upfront cost is a small price to pay in comparison to losing the copyrights to your music. If your music never earns one penny, it is yours and you should be protected. Copywriting is an investment in your intellectual property. Thieves are out there and will steal your music if they know it is not protected. If you want to protect your music, copyright it!
I’m registering my titles with ASCAP. Can someone convince me I need to copyright, too, at 35. or 40. a pop?
You simply (okay maybe not simply) copyright them as a collection of works – all your cue titles under one main title. All that for just $55 ($85 if you mail it). Visit the US Copyright Office – Fees page and follow the links for submitting a collection of songs.
BTW: the fee used to be $35 but went up to $55 May 1st. I copyright 15 to 20 cues at a time so at $3 per cue I’m contented. 🙂
famousbrandmusic:
I sped-read your post and sped right past your main question (not how but why bother copyrighting a collection). Man that’s an interesting thread. I’m gonna grab a cup of coffee later and dig in.
Can someone respond to the argument made in this forum by an arts attorney? Here it is again:
https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/how-to-copyright-your-catalog/
I cannot respond to that argument. I would say that if you cannot figure out how to copyright your music, you should hire a lawyer.
Although I would never advise anyone against filing copyright registrations, I stopped doing these a long time ago. My reasons:
(1) Stealing is still fairly rare. Not saying it doesn’t happen but not enough for me to worry about it especially if we’re talking about an instrumental that will at best end up on reality TV.
(2) As Michael L has pointed out a few times, a copyright gives you the evidence you need to file a copyright infringement lawsuit. [Edited by moderator] Very few of us will ever have a track that could create that much in damages (e.g. someone steals a song and it goes on to be recorded by Katy Perry… or ends up as the theme song to a major hit TV show).
All this being said, I probably should register my best vocal songs because they would be at the most risk, I’d imagine. I don’t think a 2 minute reality TV instrumental is much of an issue.
This is NOT legal advice as I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV… or on MLR.
🙂This may have been mentioned already, but does anyone use sites like safecreative.org or myows.com for copyrighting? They may not be the best options for USA but they are still options nonetheless for some people.
I’m with Advice on this one.
By the way, Art, I’m pretty sure I took a Sibelius workshop from you years back, in Walnut Creek.
Not me Clark. Must be more Art Munsons running around. OMG! 🙂
Being possibly the lawyer in question, for the record, I do register copyrights for all of my works.
I would never suggest that someone not copyright their music.
Registering collections is not dubious, It is valid. However, the collection needs to be either unpublished or, if published, it must meet certain conditions. From the Library of Congress website:
You may register unpublished works as a collection on one application with one title for the entire collection if certain conditions are met. Published works may only be registered as a collection if they were actually first published as a collection and if other requirements have been met. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Registration Procedures.”
It’s not a dubious practice. But…you can run into problems and defeat the purpose if you do it incorrectly. I copyright most my works as collections, because I follow all of the necessary criteria.
But, to reiterate, I would never advise anyone to not register their copyrights. If you are going to register collections, I would advise doing it properly, otherwise you are defeating the purpose.
Misreading or misunderstanding what I’ve written is one reason that I avoid offering legal opinions these days.
Most of the answers to your questions are here: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
[edited by moderator]
_Michael
This may have been mentioned already, but does anyone use sites like safecreative.org or myows.com for copyrighting? They may not be the best options for USA but they are still options nonetheless for some people.
They are relatively meaningless options for people in the US.
What safecreative’s site says is the following:
Therefore, a private copyright registration has the same effctiveness and the advantage of offering evidence of authorship as public registration would in deterring plagiarism – in many cases free of charge – and has the advantage of generating the strongest technology based global evidence,
They have worded this statement very carefully to state that what safecreative provides is evidenceof authorship. Whether that provides and advantage or deterrent is open to debate.
Under US law, you MUST register your copyrights to file a claim in federal court. If you have all the evidence in the world, but cannot get into court, it’s relatively meaningless. (It might have defensive value).
Private registration services, like safecreative, may also have value in other countries, where registration is not a basic requirement for litigation.
I have heard of people waiting until they think that their works have been infringed upon, and then filing a registration. I wouldn’t call that the best strategy.
Copyright registration in the US is not a suit of armor that protects you, or prevents your works from being plagiarized. It is your ticket into federal court.
_Michael
Just to clarify:
There is no damages threshold on claims arising under federal law. The damages threshold exists where the basis of the federal suit is diversity jurisdiction, i.e. a citizen of one state is suing a citizen of another state.
The biggest issue is the cost of litigation vs the potential recovery.
There are two types of damages actual and statuary. The actual damages are your financial losses. Statutory damages vary depending upon whether the infringement was unknowing or willful. For unknowing infringement the statutory damages can go as low as $200. For willful infringement the damages can go as high as $150,000.
Whether or not you chose to litigate is a strategic decision. Here’s a good link that discusses this subject. http://corporate.findlaw.com/intellectual-property/strategic-considerations-in-u-s-copyright-litigation.html
But… more to the point of the original question. You cannot recover statutory damages or legals fees if you have not registered your copyright.
What you don’t want to do is pay $150,000 to an attorney, so that you can recover $5,000.