Whether they begin as scribbles on a bar napkin or as epic compositions that came pouring out after an intense dream, songs are often very dear to their composers. After they've been polished and recorded, a vital next step before sharing those songs with the world is protecting them.
The Basics of Music Copyright Law
Technically, a musician immediately owns the rights to an original work once it has been produced in any concrete format, which means that once an artist puts her thoughts down on paper, whether it be just lyrics or chords with no words, copyright has been established.
The biggest issues facing musicians once they've established copyright, then, is ensuring that the song won't be copied, defending against copyright infringement and proving the song is theirs if a dispute over the music's ownership arises.
Method for Copyrighting Songs
The easiest way to copyright songs in the United States is to register them with the Library of Congress. To do this, fill out the appropriate music copyright forms, pay a fee (in 2010, this fee was $35 for a basic filing) and mail in recorded copies of the songs. These recordings will not be returned.
When the copyright office receives these three items, the registration becomes effective. Officials then go through the application, deposit the fee and make sure all the materials sufficiently meet copyright law requirements before issuing a unique registration number to the music. Once the registration goes through, a record of the copyrighted material is put online in the U.S. Copyright Office's searchable database and the copyright holder receives a certificate of the copyright.
Music Copyright Protection on the Cheap
Often called the "poor man's copyright," some artists mail themselves a written copy of their songs or a disc with a recording burned onto it, but store the envelope without ever breaking the seal. The idea behind this practice is that the postmark applied by the post office can be used as proof of the music's earliest publication.
The problem with this method is that technology in the last decade has made it really easy to forge postmarks and other homemade methods of dating music. The best way to ensure music is fully protected from copyright infringement is to go through official means to establish its creation.
Music Publishing Rights and Music Copyright Infringement: Considerations
It's important to note that registering with the Library of Congress may not protect work internationally and to win a claim of copyright infringement that crosses between two or more countries, proof of substantial similarity may be required to prove the claim in court. Basically, a person has to prove that the plagiarist had access to the work (for example, it was distributed on a large scale) and that the copy is extremely similar to the original.
This is easier to do with written lyrics because the words and phrases can be compared directly. With music, however, it is much harder to determine copyright infringement because chords, arrangements and harmonies are so complex.
For example, Beatles guitarist George Harrison lost a copyright infringement suit in 1976 to Bright Tunes Music over Harrison's song "My Sweet Lord." The judgment relied on minute musical similarities and an "idiosyncratic musical device" shared between his song and the Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Though the judge felt Harrison's plagiarism may have been inadvertent, he still lost the suit.
The bottom line is that anyone trying to register, copyright and protect their musical recordings in any way, must get legal advice first to properly ensure that their work is safe, and to prove precisely when a track was written and recorded.
Heidi Lowry - Heidi Lowry is an American writer.
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