[man of simple pleasures]

Ahh....this old chestnut   Let's face it guys, if someone wants to rip you off they will, and you might never know about it.....the world is a big place, and the 'commercial sector' is full of ruthless bastards, who have no respect for what's legal or moral.  Copyright, patents, design rights are not going to put off a determined counterfeiter/criminal from going about their everyday business. The idea that an established, respectable publisher, institution or artist might rip you off on the 'off chance' that you haven't protected your product is a non starter, as far as I'm concerned.  They would probably have more to lose than they have to gain anyway.   Personally, if I woke up one morning and heard one of my songs was a number one hit for Take That....I would be thrilled, not pssed off    I would THEN claim copyright, and ask them if they wanted any more   In fact, I would go as far as saying that being ripped off might be the best thing that could happen   I'm not saying that copyright isn't a good/positive thing, but I see it as mainly for my own 'peace of mind'   I think the 'bottom line' here is to seek your rewards from the enjoyment/satisfaction of creating and sharing your work....if financial success is your main aim, and 'raison d'etre', then, get a manager, and let him/her take care of all that stuff, while you concentrate on your art.  Just don't worry too much about copyright   In my opinion, it's time, money, and energy that can be better spent elsewhere.   Just my thoughts on the subject guys

This is great advice indeed and should be listened to!

i concur!

[Kafla]

Ahh....this old chestnut   Let's face it guys, if someone wants to rip you off they will, and you might never know about it.....the world is a big place, and the 'commercial sector' is full of ruthless bastards, who have no respect for what's legal or moral.  Copyright, patents, design rights are not going to put off a determined counterfeiter/criminal from going about their everyday business. The idea that an established, respectable publisher, institution or artist might rip you off on the 'off chance' that you haven't protected your product is a non starter, as far as I'm concerned.  They would probably have more to lose than they have to gain anyway.   Personally, if I woke up one morning and heard one of my songs was a number one hit for Take That....I would be thrilled, not pssed off    I would THEN claim copyright, and ask them if they wanted any more   In fact, I would go as far as saying that being ripped off might be the best thing that could happen   I'm not saying that copyright isn't a good/positive thing, but I see it as mainly for my own 'peace of mind'   I think the 'bottom line' here is to seek your rewards from the enjoyment/satisfaction of creating and sharing your work....if financial success is your main aim, and 'raison d'etre', then, get a manager, and let him/her take care of all that stuff, while you concentrate on your art.  Just don't worry too much about copyright   In my opinion, it's time, money, and energy that can be better spent elsewhere.   Just my thoughts on the subject guys

This is great advice indeed and should be listened to!

i concur!

Legend Binladeda - total Legend !!!!

[Sing4me88]

I'm not really a songwriter but a lyricist so I'm often left facing the old copyright dilemma every time I contact/collab with a producer/composer!!! Even before a co-writer agreement is signed and I'm contacting them to put feelers out I'll e-mail myself a copy of the lyrics to 2 different e-mail addresses along with a voice clip of my awful vocals trying to 'sing' the song  then I'll upload them on here in the lyrics review section. Keeps a nice electronic record that shows I wrote the original lyrics and melody idea before I contacted them and it also keeps track of any changes, progression etc in case anyone ever tries to shaft me on it

[Boydie]

As I mentioned previously "digital" copyright for music/lyrics is yet to be tested in court but I personally think it would help if a dispute were to happen " down the road"

When computers get involved it is a " cat and mouse" game where people try to find secure methods and others find ways to hack/exploit these methods so it would be interesting to see this tested in court

[Sing4me88]

It's a gamble I'm never really too comfortable taking but being devoid of all musical and vocal talent it's one I have to take to turn lyrics into songs The only thing that helps I suppose is that there is a ready copy of all communication from the earliest stages through to completion ie in relation to what needs changed, what we feel works, time frame turn around etc. Just hoping it doesn't come back to bite me on the arse some day :0

[Alan Starkie]

Just an addition to the 'sending a cd through the post to yourself' thing:

It's very simple but I've just sent another to myself as well as adding to my account at myfreecopyright.com and I wrote my address on the reverse of the padded envelope. The post office then stuck the two big stickers over the seal.

It's an idea...

[KEROUAC1957]

You might want to read this in the other thread regarding Myfreecopyright  http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/songwriters-resources/copyright-for-free/msg34604/#msg34604

[anthonyceseri]

True, copyright isn't really needed for songs that don't enter the commercial sector but if, like me, you are going to put them with publishers/record companies then I would seriously think about some form of time stamped proof of when it was written.

You only start encountering problems when a song starts making a lot of money. Not very likely I know but don't be the unlucky 1% who didn't copyright in some way!

Alan .

This is a great point. You want to be protected, but don't get overly hung up on protecting your music. Obscurity is a much bigger problem than theft in the case of most indie musicians.