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Songwriting DIY - How to copyright your music

Here are a few great tips for musicians out there who want to make sure they own the music they create. Of course, you could always use the mail it to yourself method, but this is the surefire way to make sure you own what you make.

If you do want a cheaper way to get results that will hold up in court, take a copy of your music, and mail it off to yourself. Then when it comes back to you, just hold on to hte unopened envelope. The postmark acts as a date stamp that can be used in court to prove you had a copy of the work sealed and stamped before anyone else. Just had the envelope to the judge and you win. But, to avoid all that, just follow the video.

How to Survive the Recession!

Tags: copyright, how-to, Music

This entry was posted by andrew on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Audio, Cool, Music.

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Mauricio

that's great help, but does the copyright.gov site work too if you're in another nationality?
How does a person outside the united states copyright a song?

Foxy Fashion

Does the mail it to yourself method actually holds up ? Who said you didn't open the envelope and added a new tape after it was received ?

David - Music Producer

This video is very helpful. Wish I had something like this a few years back! Just FYI - you should always copyright your material in the US using this method; the "mail-it-to-yourself" doesn't always hold up in court. Got to protect your babies!

Voyno

Cool vid. Good production on it.

I've heard that the poor man's copyright (mailing it to yourself) will not hold up in court.
BUT
In today’s world there are a shat load of bands on Myspace (literally millions) and your biggest problem is not going to be someone stealing your melody lines. Your biggest problem is getting someone to even LISTEN to your melody lines. If you do write Viva la Vida and Coldplay comes and rips it off consider yourself lucky. Most bands won’t even reach that level of fame.

That does not mean that you should forever go without copyrighting your songs.

If you have the money, and you have quality material, then go for it. But if not I'd wait.

Thanks for the video,
-Voyno

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