Copyright and licensing (Music)

[Spe3D]

In issue 78 of Computer Music there are like 12 pages about sampling – sort of mini promotion to copyright theft – but they do have two paragraphs on the legal side of things and a good link to the BBCs website on the legal aspects.

Pretty cool article really.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

[dbavirt]

None of that stuff was copyrighted, so I might be screwed one way or another.

Ok, here's where I start getting confused. I've read that copyright is automatic; as soon as I have written it, it is copyrighted by me. But then on BMI site, I see stuff about needing to copyright your work...

Do you mean to say that you didn't register your work with the LoC, or didn't mail yourself a copy? That can make it more difficult to prove that the material is yours, but, if I understand correctly, that does not mean your work is not copyrighted.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...

[stoney]

Pukeweed, Shamann, thanks for your insights.

[Sepheritoh]

My advice to people thinking that LA is the place to "make it", is to go somewhere else. This place is filled with fiends that want everything for free and will exploit people if it helps them buy a new Jaguar. Get established somewhere else, and get a lawyer before you consider moving to south cali. Nice place, but not a good area to start or end one's career.

I just wonder what makes you think that you have to live in LA to be ripped off. If they ripped the songs from the website they might just as well rip it from somebody who lives anywhere else in the world too. Did they actually know that you were living in LA when they downloaded the song? Did they really care? Maybe living in LA was a bless for you because you were in a position to catch them out. I will never know if somebody living in LA is ripping my music off for some radio ad because I do not live there and do not listen to LA radio.

[highdropod]

Trust me, it's worth the $30 to get your album copyrighted. It covers your ass, and will save you hundreds (or possibly thousands) of dollars in potential court costs, were someone to use your music without permission and there wasn't a "proper" copyright.

To answer your question, I didn't do anything with those tracks. I merely put them up for a week or so, to basically see how people would respond before I released the album. I know that the people that frequent my site will by the album regardless, so I figured I had nothing to worry about. What I didn't realize is that some companies pay people to sit around all day and look for "free" music on the internet to use for whatever marketing purpose (similar to stock footage for film).

Check the links from my other posting. There should be some FAQ sections where you can get specific details about the legalities of copyrighting and publishing. As for me, I am copyrighting everything I do now. Better to spend $30 every few months than to spend $1000 trying to take back what's rightfully yours.

[Sepheritoh]

These companies that constantly surf the web worries me. Where are they publishing their stuff. Can somebody report them to BMI or the authorities? Maybe the music industry must get a bit organised and have some "copyright police" to keep a watch over these activities.

[dbavirt]

BMI actually does police this sort of stuff. However, they only listen for songs that you have registered with them, and only if you have a contract with them.

highdropod: If I understand everything I've read, your album is already copyrighted, don't let anyone tell you different. However, it is not registered, that's the $30 fee you are talking about. By registering your album, you have some proof that you had the song (and, very probably, wrote it) before they did. This helps your case in court.

[highdropod]

I just wonder what makes you think that you have to live in LA to be ripped off. If they ripped the songs from the website they might just as well rip it from somebody who lives anywhere else in the world too. Did they actually know that you were living in LA when they downloaded the song? Did they really care? Maybe living in LA was a bless for you because you were in a position to catch them out. I will never know if somebody living in LA is ripping my music off for some radio ad because I do not live there and do not listen to LA radio.

This wasn't for radio. This was a television ad. I don't watch tv or listen to the radio, so I was lucky enough to have a good friend who was subconsciously looking out for me, and was familiar enough with my music to recognize it and bring it to my attention.

I was basically using LA as an example from my personal experiences. This could happen anywhere, although being in a major metropolitan area whose main financial support comes from the entertainment industry tends to make it a little more "active" then say, Estill Springs, TN or Fargo, ND or some other small US town.

Consider this: a company in Estill Springs will probably not have the same resources allotted to marketing and research that a company in LA (or Chicago or New York, etc.) will have, and obviously way less musicians. LA, on the other hand, has thousands of musicians, and 95% of them got their eyes on the prize, so I can see how a company would think that that person would simply settle for just having their name out there in the lion's den of Hollywood. I am not one of those musicians, though.

I am extremely fortunate out here, I have made alot of contacts and am finally to the point where I can move out of this area to a less frantic and bullshit infested area of the country and still get fairly steady work down here. I just brought up my bad experience as an example as to why it is an extremely wise idea to get your music copyrighted to protect yourself.

[highdropod]

highdropod: If I understand everything I've read, your album is already copyrighted, don't let anyone tell you different. However, it is not registered, that's the $30 fee you are talking about. By registering your album, you have some proof that you had the song (and, very probably, wrote it) before they did. This helps your case in court.

Exactly. It is technically copyrighted, but this whole ordeal has become more complex, because I shelved the album before I contacted my lawyer to be safe, rather than following through with the whole registration process. I also made the mistake of trying to deal with *blank* on my own. Stupid, very stupid.

I can't really get into this lawsuit, because it is still in the works. Basically, I sued them, and now they are counter suing for the same thing. It's an old tactic... a stare down until one person can't take it any longer and folds.

I can't stress enough how important it is for a serious (and by serious I mean that they make part or all of their income from music) musician to have some sort of legal counsel at their disposal. I sort of fell into film scoring, and I needed a lawyer to help with contracts, etc. Everyone talks shit about attorneys, (and yeah, there are too many of them, especially in politics, but lets not go there) you know what though? They have always made sure that I got paid in a timely manner for the work I have done.

[stoney]

highdropod,

Do you usually copyright individual songs, or collections of songs. I assume you can save $$
by doing it as a collection, but does this protect as well?

[highdropod]

highdropod,

Do you usually copyright individual songs, or collections of songs. I assume you can save $$
by doing it as a collection, but does this protect as well?

Yes. It does protect it whether it is as an album or individually, and yes it is cheaper to do it in "bulk" so to speak. If you are sketched out about the whole copyright process, I know that there are a few companies that will do it all for you, but it is probably quite a bit more expensive to have them do it rather than doing it yourself. It's not real hard, and the LOC has tutorials on how to fill out the paperwork, just like the IRS does with taxes.

For my own personal music, I wait until I either have an album together or at least 30-40 minutes of misc music that I am intending to sling for commercials, multimedia, etc. in which case, they license the tracks from me. As far as film scores go, I haven't scored anything major (i.e. - hollywood budget films) that would be released as a separate soundtrack cd yet, so it gets copyrighted by the film-maker(s) and they pay me on a contract basis with royalties (on occasion).

[P.T.]

The US gov't copyright website says that copyright is automatic,BUT to stand up in court it must be registered. That costs $30 per song or album collection.

The auto-copyright sounds nice but seems to be meaningless in reallity.

What good is an auto-copyright if it has no legal standing? It's just a lame concept to make people think that the gov't is helping them.

[cptgone]

The US gov't copyright website says that copyright is automatic,BUT to stand up in court it must be registered. That costs $30 per song or album collection.

The auto-copyright sounds nice but seems to be meaningless in reallity.

What good is an auto-copyright if it has no legal standing? It's just a lame concept to make people think that the gov't is helping them.

it's just the way laws work.

- legally, when you make music, you own the copyright.
- but if someone steals your music, it's up to you to provide proof that you are indeed the creator.

it's like murder.
no one has the right to kill me: my "life-right" is protected.
but i may get killed none the less.

[cloudspine]

There was a website somewhere where a musician could upload or mail their music and have it copyrighted for free... Anybody know of this? I think it was mentioned here in the past, but I could find anything...