The word "copyright" concisely describes exactly what it is - the right to make copies. Some people mistakenly spell it "copywrite". This is understandable, given the identical pronunciation of "right" and "write", and the fact that writing is one of the kinds of creative work that is subject to copyright protection. However, "copywrite" is not a real word. "copy writing" is a real phrase, generally meaning the work of those people in ad agencies who write inspiring blurbs for selling soap. That writing can even be copyrighted. But to keep things straight, don't think about "writing". After all, paintings, sculpture, film and maps can also be copyrighted. Instead, think about "the right to make copies".

A copyright is a monopoly. It gives the author of a work the exclusive right to use it, reproduce it, sell it, or authorize others to do those things. The fact that it is an exclusive right means that the copyright owner has the power to prevent others from using the work without his permission.

I have often found it useful, or at least interesting, to consider copyright in terms of advances in technology. When the first English copyright act was enacted in 1710, the only kind of copies that could be made were printed on paper. If you look back at the Songwriters View of the Music Industry, along the bottom, at the many kinds of ways music can be used, you can see many kinds of technology and consider how and when they were developed. We have progressed from simple paper copies to digital FTP transfers on the internet. The future will certainly bring even more kinds of copying. While the technology changes, the underlying concept of an author's exclusive right to make copies remains the same.

In the United States, the Constitution itself specifically addresses the matter of copyright. Our Founding Fathers considered it important enough to include in our national charter. I think it is worth quoting Article I, Section 8 in all its 18th-century elegance. Article I of the Constitution lays out all of the powers of Congress, and Section 8 says that Congress shall have the power

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

That is the basis of Congress' power to enact copyright laws. And Congress was quick to do so, enacting the first law in 1790. But musical compositions were not considered to be "writings" within the meaning of the copyright law until 1831. And it was not until 1972 that record companies were able to copyright their own unique recordings of a composer's work. The copyright laws were revised most recently in 1976, with a number of amendments having been added in the years since. Generally, the 1976 law governs all works created on or after January 1, 1978, while works created before that date are governed by the previous law, enacted in 1909.

(Some irresistible digressions : the Discoveries by Inventors, referred to in Article I, §8 refers to what we now call patents. Also, in its earliest days, America was a notorious copyright pirate. England and France used to complain to us about books and maps much as we now complain to Taiwan and China about CDs and videotapes.)

Copyright protects authorship, and that largely means originality. A writer is not an author if his writing is not original - if it is copied from someone else. Copyright prohibits copying. But it does not prohibit good faith independent duplication. If by some miracle a hermit who had never read a book sat down at a typewriter and came up with "gone with the wind" word for word, he could copyright that, because he did not copy it from Margaret Mitchell and it was original with him. The fact that another "gone with the wind" existed before is irrelevant.

(By contrast, if an Inventor in good faith independently duplicates someone else's Discovery, which is already patented, he will NOT be granted a patent, and he WILL be an infringer of the first Discovery. The fact that the Discovery existed before is extremely relevant.)

The purpose of copyright is spelled out right in the Constitution - To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts. Writing is a useful art, beneficial to society, and is to be encouraged by means of an economic incentive - the exclusive right to make copies, presumably for purpose of sale.

While a copyright is a monopoly, it is a limited monopoly. That limit reflects a tension in the purposes of copyright law. One purpose is to reward authors for their work. But the greater purpose is to provide society with the benefits of authorship. Hence the limitation, which is spelled out in the Constitution - " for limited times". Copyright is of limited duration, and when it expires the work of authorship is said to fall into "the public domain". After that time, anyone can copy the work without the permission of, or any obligation to, the author or copyright owner.

The "bundle of rights"

It has long been said that a copyright is not a single right but actually a "bundle" of several rights. The Copyright Act now specifies the rights that are reserved for the exclusive use of the author:

1. the right to make copies of the work (such as copies of sheet music, or recordings, or to reproduce the work in a film or TV program)
2. the right to prepare derivative works, that is, works derived from the copyrighted work. A recording is said to be derived from a musical composition. A music video or full length musical play may also be derived from a musical composition. the right to distribute copies of the work (apart from making those copies) by sale, rental, or other means.
3. the right to perform the work in public. This is the right exercised by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC on behalf of its members.
4. the right to display the work in public. This generally applies to works of graphic arts, but one could imagine a musical application, such as an enlarged piece of sheet music

Duration of Copyright

Under the 1976 Copyright Act, copyright protection in a work begins at the moment of its creation. Creation means the moment the work is "fixed in a copy or phonorecord" - that is - written on a piece of paper, recorded onto a tape or computer disc, or otherwise transmuted from brainwaves in your head into something tangible that other people can see or hear. It is NOT necessary for you to send in a copyright registration form for copyright protection to attach. There are many good reasons to submit copyright registration forms, but your copyright will exist whether or not you do so. Copyright exists from the moment of creation.

How long does a copyright last? For works created now, protection lasts for 70 years beyond the death of the author, or, if there are more than one author, the death of the last surviving author. In shorthand, this is referred to as "life plus 70".

As with almost anything in the law, there are exceptions. If the author of a work is anonymous, or uses a pseudonym (phony name), the term of copyright will be 100 years from creation, or 75 years from publication, whichever is shorter. But, if the author discloses his true identity to the Copyright Office, Life Plus 70 will apply.

Another exception is works made "for hire." This is a very important concept dealt with in greater detail in the chapter on Contracts. For works made for hire, as with anonymous or pseudonymous works, the term is 100 years from creation, or 75 years from publication, whichever is shorter.

At this point the question arises: What is "publication"? This is also a very important concept in copyright law. It does NOT mean merely signing a contract with a publisher. Publication is defined as

the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending. A public performance of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

As you can see, publication can occur without selling copies of the work. Merely giving away copies to the public in certain circumstances may suffice. This is important in the music field because "publication" of a song triggers the "compulsory licensing" provisions of the Copyright Act., dealt with in greater detail in the chapter on WHAT? Giving away copies of a song to a limited group of publishers or recording artists in an attempt to have the song recorded will not constitute publication. Nor is giving copies to a limited number of family members or friends.

Joint Works

Another copyright concept vital to songwriters is that of "joint works". Under the 1976 Copyright Act, a "joint work" is one

prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole

A song is plainly a joint work when the writers work together at the same time and in the same place on both words and music. A song is also a joint work when a writer creates lyrics, intending that the music be added later, even though at the time the lyrics are created the music is not yet written and the lyricist doesn't even know who the composer will be. The same is true for music written before lyrics. But if a poet had written a poem, intended only to be a free standing poem, and music is later added to make it into a song, then that song is not a joint work. The same is true for a musical composition intended to stand alone, to which lyrics are later added.

If the authors intended "that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole" and a joint work is created, then the rule is that all the authors own the entire product in equal shares, regardless of their particular contribution to it. It is not as if the lyricist owns only the words and the composer owns only the music. Instead, each owns half of an "undivided whole." It is as if there are two roommates sharing an apartment. It is not as if one person owns the bedroom and kitchen, and the other owns the bathroom and living room. Instead, each has an interest in one half of an "undivided" apartment. On the other hand, if the song is not a joint work, then the poet keeps a separate copyright in his words, and the composer keeps a separate copyright in his music. The "whole" is "divided". Each owns his contributions separately.

Under the copyright law, one owner of a joint work may issue a license to use the entire work without the consent of the co-owner, provided he properly shares the fees or royalties derived from the usage. In contrast, the owner of part of a non-joint work may license only the portion owned by him (i.e., the words) and cannot license the use of the part not owned by him (i.e., the music). Therefore, someone wishing to use a non-joint musical work (such as a record company) would need the permission of both composer and lyricist. If one person, such as the composer, refuses to issue a license, the lyrics alone are useless, and no record will be made. Thus, the rule on joint works greatly facilitates the making of records and other derivative works, even if sometimes particularly picky composers are annoyed at records being made that they would prefer not to have made. This is another instance of the tension between conflicting goals of copyright - the ownership rights of authors are limited by the needs of the public for more works of authorship.

The © and the P

While for most legal and business purposes a copyright is a copyright is a copyright, the U.S. Copyright Office has issued several different forms for registering different kinds of copyrightable works. There is the "va" form for works of visual art. There is the "tx" form for works of writing, or text. There are two forms of concern to songwriters. The first is the "pa" form, and it is used for musical works and songs. In copyright notices, this kind of copyright is signified by using the "c" in a circle: ©. The second copyright is known as the "sr" and covers a particular recording of the song. In copyright notices, this is signified by using the "p" in a circle: P.

• View the PA Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
• View the Short Form PA Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
• View the SR Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

Generally, the PA is used by the songwriter and the music publisher. The SR is used by the record company or record producer, considered under copyright law to be the "author" of the "sound recording", which is now accepted to be a "writing" subject to copyright protection. To get a fuller sense of these two kinds of copyright, consider the following scenario.

Jane Songwriter is sitting in her tiny studio apartment surrounded by records, tapes, CDs, guitar, electronic keyboard with 17 instrument sounds and 23 rhythm tracks, and 4-track home recording gear. She writes a song and sings it into the recorder with some simple keyboard and rhythm backup. She knows she has to register the song for copyright protection, so she fills out a PA form and sends it to Washington, D.C. along with a cassette tape copy of the song. She also types the lyrics onto a piece of paper and sends that in too. One the tape and lyric sheet she writes "Copyright © 1997 Jane Songwriter".

Apart from putting the tape and lyric sheet in a desk drawer, never again to see the light of day, Jane has done all she can to protect the words and music she has written.

Now Jane makes copies of her song and sends it around to music publishers. One of them likes it enough to offer Jane a publishing contract, and after first carefully reading the chapter on Contracts below, she signs the song over to the publisher. The publisher asks Jane to re-write some small parts of the song, which she happily does, and when the revision are complete the publisher sends in its own PA form, naming Jane as author and itself as copyright claimant (i.e., owner).

Now the publisher sends the song to several recording artists and one of them likes it enough to want to put it on a record. The artist's record company hires a record producer, who uses a 48-track recording console and beefs up the song substantially with many musicians and back-up singers, and the song sounds much different than Jane's home-made 4-track recording. The record producer has added so much creative work to the song that the copyright law considers him to be entitled to a copyright on that work, the result of which is a sound recording. So the record producer's employer, the record company, submits an SR copyright form to protect - not the words and music - but the particular sound recording.

Now the song becomes quite a hit and it becomes such a hit that several other recording artists decide they want to record the song, and several other record companies hire several other record producers to create several new sound recordings. Some are jazzy and some are country and some are elevator music and some are hard rock. All those record companies file SR forms to protect their own sound recordings.

Nothing has happened to the PA copyright owned by Jane's music publisher. The publisher still owns that copyright. The publisher has simply licensed all those record companies to make records of the songs, each of which is a derivative work, derived from the song. And those derivative works generated a great deal of royalties. Jane moved to Malibu and lived happily ever after.

Now suppose Jane had ambitions to be more than just a songwriter, but to be a record producer as well (not a bad idea for any songwriter). She would not have made just a 4-track recording, but would have used more sophisticated equipment that would show off her producing ideas and engineering skills. The demo would have sounded more like a master. She would have created a sound recording that was truly a work of authorship in its own right, over and above the words and music she wrote. As a record producer, Jane could rightly use the SR form to register her song for copyright protection.

For songwriters trying to decide which registration form to use, the question is this: are you trying to protect just the words and music, or have you also put so much effort into the sound recording - more like a master than a demo - that you want to protect that as well. If it's only words and music, use the PA. If it's also the production, use the SR. The SR, by the way, will cover everything - words, music and production. It's not necessary to file both SR and PA.

Copyright Notice

You should put a copyright notice on all your records, tapes, CDs, lead sheets and lyric sheets, even if you have not yet formally registered for copyright protection. Remember, copyright arises upon creation, not registration.

A proper copyright notice has three elements:

1. the word "copyright" or the symbol © (or P) (many times both are used - no problem)
2. the year of creation
3. the name of the copyright owner, which is you until you assign it to a publisher

For example:

Copyright © 1997 Gary Schuster

In 1989 the United States became a party to an international copyright treaty called the Berne Convention. This eliminated the strict legal requirement for copyright notices. Ever conservative, lawyers will advise you to keep using the notice.

Completing the PA Form

• View the PA Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

The forms supplied by the Copyright Office for registering a work for copyright protection come with instructions that are generally sufficient for most purposes. There is no need here to duplicate these instructions, but simply to provide additional information in areas where confusion is common. The form has different spaces which are numbered, each of which asks for different types of information. We will take each space in order.

1. The only possible source of confusion in this space is the heading "nature of this work". If you are registering a complete song, write in "words and music". If you are submitting music alone or lyrics alone, write either "music" or "words", as the case may be. Nothing more is required.

2. Under "name of author" you should put your full legal name. You should use you middle name and any "jr."s or "iii"s because there are many "joe smiths" out there and you need to distinguish yourself from them.

If you use a pseudonym, be sure to also add your legal name. Do this by using the initials "l/k/a", shorthand for "legally known as". For example:

Madonna l/k/a Louise Ciccione

Space 2 also asks if a work was made for hire. Unless you have a written contract with a producer of a film or TV program or an ad agency, the answer is most likely no. Even if you have such a contract, you or your attorney should carefully check on the work for hire issue. If in doubt, say no. There is more on for hire in the chapter on Contracts.

Under "nature of authorship" you again use "words and music" or just "music" or "words", as mentioned above. Nothing more is required.

3. The second space here asks for the date of publication, if any. Recall the definition of publication:

the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending. A public performance of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

Use this space only if your song has been recorded and distributed as described above. The date to use is the first date the song was so distributed. If it has not been so distributed, leave the space blank.

4. The Copyright Claimant is the party that owns the copyright. This space cannot be left blank. If you are registering your own song, you must write in your own name and address. If the song was written by multiple authors, then all their names and addresses must be inserted. If there is not enough space to squeeze in all that information, use the Continuation Form, discussed below.

Recall the scenario of Jane Songwriter above. When she first registered her song, she put herself down as both author and Copyright Claimant. When her publisher registered the slightly revised song, it put Jane down as Author, and itself down as Copyright Claimant.

In the next space, "transfer", Jane's publisher wrote "by written contract" or "by agreement". Jane left the space blank since there was no transfer - she is the author.

5 and 6. People submitting songs that are entirely original with them should check the "no" box in both spaces and move on to space 7. The main trouble with these spaces is that people often overlook them.

If you are submitting a work that was previously registered, you must check "yes" in space 5, and then explain why you are registering the song again by using one of the three boxes provided. The first box is only used by publishers - a songwriter will have no need of it. The second box should not be used often because ideally all writers will be included in the first registration. The third box is most commonly used by writers: a changed version of the previously registered work, that is, you re-wrote the words or music or gave it a new title. And that is all you need by way of explanation in space 6b - "new words", "new music", "new title", or something similarly concise.

Sometimes writers use portions of works by other writers. In these cases you are to identify the work you are using in space 6a. As this requires a rather lengthy discussion, it will be treated below under the heading "pre-existing material".

7. Self explanatory.

8. If you are the songwriter, or one of several songwriters, check the box "author". You should not check any of the other three boxes. They do not accurately and fully describe your relationship to the song. Some people like to check the box "owner of exclusive right(s)" because they think it sounds grander. It is not. It implies that you own only one or a few of the "bundle of rights" under copyright, rather than all of them. Authors own all of them. Claim them all.

The rest of the form is self explanatory. But one important remaining issue is that of "deposit material". You are required to submit a copy of the song. This proves that the song has actually been created in the manner required under copyright law: "fixed in a copy or phonorecord". This can be in the form of a lead sheet, tape cassette, or even a computer disc. It is a good idea to submit a lyric sheet as well, and everything should be clearly marked with your copyright notice.

Only one copy is required if the work has not yet been published. If it has been published, two copies are required. Why? Believe it or not, for no other reason than to beef up the collection at the Library of Congress.

Pre-Existing Material

We return to the issue of using pre-existing material in your song. This material will generally be of two types: public domain, or still protected by copyright.

Public Domain Material

Using material in the public domain is usually a simple matter since you may use it without obtaining permission from anyone. If you wanted to use a section from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, you could do it with confidence, knowing that any copyright owned by Beethoven has long since expired. However, keep in mind the difference between copyright in a musical composition (©) and copyright in a sound recording (P). Clearly, any copyright in Beethoven's musical composition has long since expired. But, if on your demo tape you copy or digitally sample a recording of the Ninth Symphony by the Berlin Philharmonic on the Deutsche Grammophon record label, there may well be a (P) copyright in that recording, and your copying or sampling without the permission of Deutsche Grammophon would be an infringement of their copyright.

Furthermore, not all examples are as clear cut as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Many works that you think are in the public domain ("pd", in shorthand) are not. Some research is necessary to make certain. Call the Index Departments at ASCAP, BMI or Harry Fox to inquire.

Another twist in the PD issue is that of arrangements. At the Woodstock festival, Jimi Hendrix did a famous arrangement of "the star spangled banner". More recently, the Super Bowl has featured Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and others doing personalized arrangements of the song, some of which were recorded and sold to the public. "the star spangled banner" is most definitely a PD musical composition. But it may be that in their arrangements, Jimi and Luther and Whitney each added sufficient new authorship to the old song to qualify for a copyright on an arrangement - a derivative work based upon the old song. Those copyrights are very much in force. So, a songwriter incorporating "the star spangled banner" into a song must be sure to steer clear of the arrangements by Jimi and Luther and Whitney, or to get their permission. Again, to find out if an arrangement is copyrighted, inquire at ASCAP, BMI or Harry Fox.

Copyrighted Material

The general rule is, if you want to use material copyrighted by someone else, get their permission. They may or may not grant it, and they may or may not charge you for it. But if you use a significant portion of their work without permission, they may well sue you. To determine who owns a particular song, ask ASCAP, BMI or Harry Fox.

The general rule, as always, has exceptions. You cannot copyright a title. There are a number of reasons for this. First, a short phrase like a title is not considered to be a substantial enough work of authorship, like a book or a poem, to qualify for a copyright. Also, copyrighting a title would prevent other people from using that title for their songs. You already know that there are many songs that have the same title. The public interest in having as many songs as possible, even if some of them have the same title, is felt to outweigh the author's desire to own that title.

Like a title, a single line from a song is a short phrase that may not be protected by copyright, even if the whole song is protected. You may be tempted to use someone else's line in your song. Don't do it. First, you should write your own song. Second, there are no bright lines distinguishing when a phrase will be protected by copyright and when it will not. It will come down to the judgment of your particular judge or jury. Most lawyers, including this one, will tell you to play it safe and write your own song.

The Short Form PA Form

• View the Short Form PA Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

Recently the Copyright Office created a new form called the Short Form PA Form. This shorter and simpler form may be used instead of the regular PA form if all the following conditions apply:

• you are the only writer and copyright owner - no co-writers, co-owners or co-publishers;
• the work was not created on a for hire basis; and
• the work is completely original and does not incorporate any pre-existing or copyrighted materials.

Since the Short Form PA is a simpler version of the PA form, just follow all the instructions set forth above for the PA form.

The SR Form

• View the SR Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

The SR form is almost identical to the PA form and should be completed in the same way. The only difference is in space 1, where it asks what type of work is being registered. Unless you are submitting a recording of a play, opera, ballet or musical, you should check the box "musical".

Continuation Form

• View the Continuation Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

The PA and SR forms contain room enough for only one song, three authors, and maybe two copyright claimants, if you write small. If your song involves more people than this, you need to use the "continuation form" for the additional information.

In the first space you put it information which identifies the main PA or SR form, to which the Continuation Form is attached.

The next space is for additional authors.

The last section is very useful because at the current price of $30 per registration, registering many songs can become quite expensive. The way around this is to register several songs at once under a single title, such as one might register a book containing several poems or short stories. This is called the "folio method" of registration.

If you have ten songs to register, but shudder at the thought of spending $300 to do it, you can use the folio method. Give your collection a name, such as "jane songwriter i", and use that as the title on your PA form. Then, on the back of the Continuation Form, check the box which says that you are continuing from box 1 on the PA form. Finally, write in the large space provided:

"Jane Songwriter I" is a folio containing the following individual musical compositions, all words and music by Jane Songwriter:

• I Love You
• You Love Me
• We Love Everybody
• Etc.

By this method you have registered everything in the folio for the price of one registration. As to deposit material, you can send one tape containing all 10 songs (properly labeled), or 10 tapes. Next time you have another collection of songs to register, call it "jane songwriter ii", and so on.

Naturally, there are certain drawbacks:

You get only one registration number and certificate covering all 10 songs. Ideally, each song would have its own number and certificate. This can be remedied by re-registering the songs when you have the money, or when there is real activity on a particular song, i.e., a publisher wants to sign it. When re-registering, you check the appropriate box in space 5, and by way of explanation write "was previously registered as part of the folio "Jane Songwriter I"."

Also, folio registration will work only if all the songs have the same authors and copyright claimants. If you wrote nine songs by yourself, and the 10th with someone else, you can use the folio method only for the nine you wrote by yourself, and you must use a separate PA form for that 10th song. Or, if you and Bob wrote nine songs together (intending, of course, that your "contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole") and Harry helped you on the 10th, you can use the folio method only for the nine you and Bob wrote, and you must use a separate PA form for that 10th song.

The CA Form

• View the CA Form - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

People make mistakes. There is a form for that. It is for "corrections" to forms previously submitted, and also for "amplification" of such forms, which is to say, adding additional information, such as an author previously omitted. The form is reproduced here for your perusal, but it is simple and rarely used, so we will not review how to fill it out.

Miscellaneous Mechanics

The Copyright Office has a telephone "hotline" that you can call to order copyright forms: (202) 707-9100. There is no human being there, just a tape recorder playing a message and taking down your name and address.

If you want to use the Web, the forms URL is http://www.copyright.gov/forms/. The forms themselves are available, but to retrieve you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. The general Copyright Office Home Page is at http://www.copyright.gov/.

If you're really old fashioned, mail your request for forms to: Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559

The Copyright Office will only send you at most two or three copies of a form, but you are permitted to make and submit photocopies of the form.

Once you send in the form, it will take at least three months before you receive it back. I remember, when the government was shut down in the winter of 1995, that it took as long as six months to get something back. When it does come back, it has a nice red, white and blue stamp on the upper right-hand corner that tells you the number assigned to the copyright, and the official date of registration.

It is important to keep your copyright certificates in a safe place, but not a matter of life and death. You do not lose any rights if the certificate is lost or stolen, and you can always get a copy of a certificate (at a price).

Theft Prevention

In concluding on the topic of copyright, it should be noted that nothing about registering a song will prevent a nasty person from stealing or infringing it. The only sure way to prevent these things is to stick the song in a drawer and never let it out again. Of course, that's not the way to get a song recorded. The risk of theft is an unavoidable part of the process of sending songs around for review. Read that part again: unavoidable. Get used to it. Get over it. Send out those tapes, but be sure they're properly registered and labeled.

Registering the song has several useful aspects. First, somewhere in Washington there will be a file cabinet holding your song on a tape or lead sheet, with your name on it, and the date it was received by the Copyright Office. That is good strong evidence that as of that date you had written a certain song with those words and that music.

Next, the information contained on a copyright registration form is presumed to be true, unless and until a court is presented with convincing evidence to the contrary. This can be very useful in disputes with co-writers or people pretending to be co-writers. The burden is on them to present evidence contrary to what is claimed on the form.

Also, you are not permitted to file an infringement lawsuit unless the song is registered. This may sound harsh, but in realty it is much more generous. If you have an unregistered song, and you find out on Monday that someone infringed it, you can submit it for registration on Tuesday, and go to court on Wednesday, even before you receive back the stamped certificate.

Incidentally, there are from time to time people or organizations that encourage you to send them your song to be registered in some private way (for a fee) that is supposed to provide extra protection. This is nonsense. The best and only protection you need is registration with the U.S. Copyright Office. The same is true for the idea of mailing yourself the song by certified mail or some such. In each of these cases, all you are doing is creating evidence that as of a certain date you had written a certain song, with those words and that music. However, a crafty lawyer will find ways to attack your private registration or your self-mailing. You might lose your self-mailed envelope yourself. The strongest and safest evidence is the copy held by the U.S. Copyright Office, and it only costs $30. Nothing better is available.

So, copyright registration is not perfect and cannot prevent stealing. But it enables you to sue, and protects you in various ways if someone does infringe your work, or if you get involved in a dispute. In an imperfect world, this is as good as you're going to get.

Back to "Songwriter's Guide" Table of Contents

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