If you enjoy songwriting and recording
your own music then you probably just want to concentrate on that, but it is worth
taking a few steps today that can save a mountain of trouble later on.
Register
your work:
As a songwriter, if you want to get published, or even if you
self publish your work, you will be sending copies to your agents, record companies,
or other individuals. Can you trust those who get hold of your work to respect
your rights, or will you discover one day that your music is being passed off
as someone else's work, while you miss out on the royalties?
Having seen
my own work turn up in the hands of plagiarists who have claimed it as their own,
I am an advocate of copyright registration, as a means of protecting your all
of your intellectual property rights, and would recommend you join The Guild of
international songwriters & Composers www.songwriters-guild.co.uk as being a very fast,
efficient and secure registration service whose copyright registration centre
has been operating for some 22 years. By registering your copyrights, you place
on record verifiable proof of your copyright claim. This means that you can prove
your claim to a copyright should the person copying your songs claims they wrote
them first.
INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING WITNESSING COPYRIGHT & INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS REGISTRATION SERVICE FOR SONGWRITERS. SONGWRITERS INTERNATIONAL
SONGWRITING COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
The Guild of International Songwriters
& Composers' www.songwriters-guild.co.uk Copyright Service provides
the opportunity for songwriting and composing members of The Guild of International
Songwriters and Composers to register free with the Guild's Copyright Registration
Centre for copyright protection their songwriting and composing copyrights and
ownership of their own and co-written works (songs/instrumentals) with other Guild
members copyrights & intellectual property rights FREE of charge within their
membership, therefore, safeguarding the Guild members' songwriting copyright and
other intellectual copyrights.
A Copyright Certificate issued to the Guild
member outlines details of the copyrights registered on any specific date to help
protect against any copyright theft, claim, infringement or dispute. Copyright
protection through the Guild's members free Copyright Service can be used for
the registration of songs, instrumental themes, manuscripts, lyric sheets, paper
documents, poetry, traditional arrangements of songs/instrumentals, musicals,
advertisements, spoken word, literary (consisting of or occupied with books),
musical tutorials, manuals, literature or written composition, artistic, belletristic,
poetic, dramatic, recorded works, sound recordings such as demos, commercial releases,
library recordings, archive recordings, videos, films, etc, in formats to include
cassette tape, DAT (Digital Audio Tape), compact disc, vinyl, mini-disc, computer
disk (floppy disk / CD ROM), VHS video, DVD. Copyright protection through the
Guild's Copyright & Intellectual property rights witnessing service is free
to all Guild members of The Guild of International Songwriters & Composers
who wish to protect their copyright & intellectual property rights.
How
much does the Guild's Copyright Service cost? The Guild's Copyright service is
only available to Guild members and is free within the songwriters and composers
membership How Long does the Guild's Copyright registration last? Once you have
registered your copyright (intellectual property rights) with the Guild then you
do not have to register the work again (unless there is a significant change to
the work - songs/instrumentals). Your certificate is proof of the registration
and your claim is held on our files as evidence of your registration. Don't be
fooled into paying for further copyright registrations after a few years to some
organisations or companies who have set up a fee paying copyright registration
service at an expense per song.
There is no need to do this. In the UK for
instance your copyright is valid for 70 years after your death where the work
then passess into Public Domain. Your membership to The Guild entitles you to
register as many of your works as you wish FREE of charge within your membership.
The Guild's Copyright Registration Centre has operated its copyright service for
its members for the past 22 years.
Q. How do I register my works
with the Guild?
A. Registration is extremely simple and quick. All
the information on how to use the free members copyright service is outlined in
the membership pack you receive when you become a member.
Q. Is there
any reason for me to register my works (songs/instrumentals)?
A.
Absolutely, yes. Registration is evidence of your claim to the fact that you wrote
the work and that you have taken steps to identify yourself as the true legitimate
owner of the work(s) from a certain date in time. If you have a copyright case
to defend where someone has plagiarised/stolen your work, how are you going to
prove that you wrote it and that you are the legitimate owner of the work. The
Guild's copyright certificate is evidence that you took steps to register the
work as your own and that the intellectual property rights are yours. It is extremely
important to protect your copyrights which could be a valuable asset where royalty
income/money is being generated.
Q. I have posted a copy of my works
to myself, but have heard this referred to as a poor persons copyright.
A.
Mailing a copy of the work(s) to yourself is not a good practice in itself. This
type of evidence is problematic If the packet/envelope is sealed with sellotape
or stapled then it could be argued that it has been opened and resealed, and could
be fake/corrupted evidence. We strongly advise against this type of registration
as a main registration but is good as a secondary back up to a main registration
in support.
Q. At what point should I register my works for copyright?
A.
As soon as you have finished writing / composing your song / instrumental and
you are satisfied that the work(s) is finished then the moment it is written down
(lyrics / manuscript) or recorded then that is the time to register your copyright.
You should do this as quickly as possible before it is given to anyone for any
purpose.
Q. When promoting my song / instrumentals should I undertake
to do anything to help protect my copyrights?
A. The main priority
is to ensure that you keep a copy of the letter you have written that you are
sending with your demo, and to ensure that you get a certificate of posting with
the name of the person/company, to whom you are sending your copyrights. Evidence
that your work(s) is in circulation is very important. Always use the copyright
symbol © or the word copyright on your lyric sheets and recordings along with
your name and the year date. Ensure that you label everything (lyric sheets, manuscripts,
recording media i.e cassette, CD, DVD, Video etc and their cases) with you name,
address, telephone number and email contact.
The Guild of International
Songwriters & Composers www.songwriters-guild.co.uk
Mark all your work
with copyright notices:
A copyright notice is simply a piece of text that
states that the work is subject to copyright and the authors name, it is often
followed by the phrase 'all rights reserved' which simply means that you withhold
all rights to that work as is your right under copyright law. A copyright notice
is not required under law - the work will still be subject to copyright without
one, and the 'all rights reserved' statement adds nothing, (this is assumed unless
you explicitly state that you relinquish some rights). So why use them? Simple:
It's a deterrent. It makes it clear to everyone that your work is subject to copyright,
and that you take your rights seriously.
The standard format for copyright
notices is 5 elements:
1. The word is "copyright" not to be confused
with the word "copywrite" which is an entirely different thing. Copyright
means the right to copy which only you have the authority to grant subject to
any assignments of copyrights that you may have made
2. The internationally
recognised copyright symbol ©
3. The year of publication - i.e © 2008
4.
The name of the copyright owner - i.e © 2008 Joe Bloggs
5. An optional statement
of intent, (not required). For example: ' Copyright © 2006 J. Bloggs. All rights
reserved.' The © being a C in a circle is the normal copyright symbol and can
be applied to most types of work. It can be found in most word processor programs
under the 'insert' menu.
For more information about this copyright, songwriting
article - please visit www.songwriters-guild.co.uk
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