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 passes 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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