JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Remember SR or PA forms for Copyright

Cal,

Your music is copyright protected the moment you write it down or record it. Ideas, on the other hand, can never be copyright protected. Only the presentation of those ideas. Otherwise, you'd have 1 love song. 1 break up song. etc.

Registration is a matter of legal standing. It establishes a date you claim ownership of that work with the government. But it's not the date your protection begins. It's simply a formality that must happen before a lawsuit can be filed and it's one piece of proving you wrote a work and have legal ownership. A registration by itself proves nothing. You can register a Michael Jackson song and no one will stop you because they aren't listening to the work. If you did, and tried to use that to prove it was your work, in court you'd be quickly defeated.

Keeping work copies, notating live performance dates, keeping a record of when you posted a song on a website or message board etc.. are all ways to support your side in case someone infringes on you, OR you are accused of infringing on someone else. You have to prove 3 primary things in an infringement lawsuit. 1. That you wrote it. 2. That the infringing party had reasonable access to the work. 3. That damages/losses/profiting occured due to their infringement.

Using reasonable record keeping is always a good idea if you are doing this with hopes of professionalism and commercial success. But it's very hard to write a great song and get it cut yourself. Stealing it from someone else is dramatically harder because you're unlikely going to be able to duplicate that work/talent again. Use reasonable professionalism, but spend your time working on making great music. Too many people cower in fear that something will be stolen and end up getting nowhere due to that fear. Music is made to be heard.. not hidden away.

Brian