Money is an issue,and I don't have 45 dollars for each song,however I would like to get as much music in to protect myself,however when you want to sell a song how do you sell one song if you have them all under one title?
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- To add my 2 cents to the conversation - Quoted From the Copyr
- To add my 2 cents to the conversation -
Quoted From the Copyright Form SR:
“Works”: “Works” are the basic subject matter of copyright; they are what authors create
and copyright protects. The statute draws a sharp distinction between the “work” and “any
material object in which the work is embodied.”
“Copies” and “Phonorecords”: These are the two types of material objects in which
“works” are embodied. In general, “copies” are objects from which a work can be read or
visually perceived, directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as manuscripts, books,
sheet music, film, and videotape. “Phonorecords” are objects embodying fixations of sounds,
such as audio tapes and phonograph disks. For example, a song (the “work”) can be reproduced
in sheet music (“copies”) or phonograph disks (“phonorecords”), or both.
“Sound Recordings”: These are “works,” not “copies” or “phonorecords.” “Sound recordings”
are “works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds,
but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work.”
Example: When a record company issues a new release, the release will typically involve two
distinct “works”: the “musical work” that has been recorded, and the “sound recording” as a
separate work in itself. The material objects that the record company sends out are “phonorecords”:
physical reproductions of both the “musical work” and the “sound recording.”
Should You File More Than One Application? If your work consists
of a recorded musical, dramatic, or literary work and if both that “work” and the sound
recording as a separate “work” are eligible for registration, the application form you should
file depends on the following:
File Only Form SR if: The copyright claimant is the same for both the musical, dramatic,
or literary work and for the sound recording, and you are seeking a single registration to
cover both of these “works.”
File Only Form PA (or Form TX) if: You are seeking to register only the musical, dramatic,
or literary work, not the sound recording. Form PA is appropriate for works of the performing
arts; Form TX is for nondramatic literary works.
Separate Applications Should Be Filed on Form PA (or Form TX) and on Form SR if:
(1) The copyright claimant for the musical, dramatic, or literary work is different from the
copyright claimant for the sound recording; or (2) you prefer to have separate registrations
for the musical, dramatic, or literary work and for the sound recording.
=end quote=
Where it says, "File Only Form SR if: The copyright claimant is the same for both the musical, dramatic,
or literary work and for the sound recording, and you are seeking a single registration to
cover both of these “works.”
"copyright claimant" - that's you. So you need to be the songwriter AND own the recordings.
So, here's the bottom line. You own the song(s) from the time they are written. The registered copyright material just helps you establish a legal date of creation should someone come along later and try to claim ownership in any way. As Remy says the musical composition is separate from the sound recording. However, the Copyright Form SR can protect BOTH the recording and the song - and you can protect an entire album with one form and one fee. The SR Form will satisfy any proof of ownership of an individual song. If at a later date you want to extract a single song and register it individually you can do that if/when you start making money. But to use the Form SR to cover a collection of songs, each song has to be written by the same composer/author - or at least have one person who was a writing or co-writing credit on every song in the collection.
In any case, the copyright is really only enforceable if you can prove the other person heard your song first and then 'borrowed' or stole your idea - either deliberately, or even subconsciously.
For example: I released a song in the early 90's that was built around a rather unusual guitar line. A month or so after our CD was out, Van Halen released a song with the same unusual guitar line. People who had bought our CD were saying 'Van Halen ripped you off', or 'I heard your song on the radio but it sounded like Sammy Hagar singing it". Eddie and I have never been within 50 miles of one another as far as I know - so neither influenced the other and neither could have said the other one stole their riff. There are only so many notes available.
Hopefully that helps.
Songs can only be copywritten individually. Operas & Musicals, o
Songs can only be copywritten individually. Operas & Musicals, orchestral works, can be copywritten as a whole. If you copyright your recording, it's called a phonogram. A phonogram does not protect your musical rights just your recorded rights. And so if you have created an entire musical production which you have copywritten, those songs should be protected. So in a sense, if you're selling a single song, they would have rights to all of them under this single blanket copyright. So if you want to sell individual songs, you should copyright individual songs as well. If you don't have the $45, you could still indicate the song is copywritten and upon receiving your sellers fee, you should immediately copyright the song. And also before you sell that song, you should send a certified and/or registered mail of the song to yourself before you ever send it out to anyone pending your copyright. This provides viable dating of your material should a lawsuit be ensued.
No, I'm not a lawyerM
Mx. Remy Ann David