Copyrighting your own tracks

danshaw · Post by **danshaw** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:46 am

Years ago when I was actually able to finish a tune I was told the best way to copyright your work is to send a copy of it on Cassette in a jiffy bag to yourself. The postal stamp with the date on it was enough to prove when you made the track in case anyone tried to claim later that they did it first

Nowadays there must be an electronic version of this process that is legally binding. Is simply emailing the track to yourself enough to prove the date? Or uploading it to some kind of online backup service, or Googlemail?

What do you guys do?

Cheers

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:41 pm

Look at Creative Commons.

foogermooger · Post by **foogermooger** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:56 pm

danshaw wrote:Years ago when I was actually able to finish a tune I was told the best way to copyright your work is to send a copy of it on Cassette in a jiffy bag to yourself. The postal stamp with the date on it was enough to prove when you made the track in case anyone tried to claim later that they did it first

Nowadays there must be an electronic version of this process that is legally binding. Is simply emailing the track to yourself enough to prove the date? Or uploading it to some kind of online backup service, or Googlemail?

What do you guys do?

Cheers

You dont need to do anything i dont think. If there is ever a case then its fairly easy to prove you made the track, just keep the project files and parts etc etc.

There was a good article in one of the music magazines about this i read just the other day. (Computer Music or Future Music i cant remember)

I wouldnt pay someone to prove that i made a certain piece of music.

Im not the most knowledgable guy but i think this is quite straight forward unless there is something im missing.

uku · Post by **uku** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:28 pm

The US Copyright Office has a convenient online application now (assuming you're in the US?).. You can upload mp3s and submit electronically. Also you don't need to send $20 per song or whatever it is, you can just submit a collected work and list all of your songs as components of that work. It takes 5-8 months for the application status to go from "Pending" to "Approved" but the paperwork is logged and valid at the time of submission.

While it may not be absolutely necessary in every case, I think its a good measure to take if you are releasing songs publicly. Statistically, in cases of lawsuits, the party that has the most and best documentation tends to win. Yes I agree that having the original tracks or DAW session is proof positive of ownership, but what happens if you (or Google, etc.)have a catastrophic loss of your backups?

I'm not a lawyer, this is just my understanding of the process.

the shoe · Post by **the shoe** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:00 pm

don't spend money and don't bother sending it to yourself
everything you do has copyright just by the fact you've done it
the only real way to protect yourself is to release it, even then i could copy the track and there wouldn't be anything you could do about it

Khazul · Post by **Khazul** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:11 pm

Copyright is automatic (in signatory countries).

Howveer the problem is prooving it, so yes you can send something to yourself by registered post etc, and that is a level of acceoted proof - what
I call poor mans proof.

If you want it done properly however you need to engage with a lawyer who specialises in registration of music rights and follows an appropriate process that will be accepted by courts in the case of a dispute.

If you simply send something to yourself and someone else registeres the same work properly, then the chances are you will loose a dispute in a court.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:24 pm

Just back up the project file you used to create the song, that alone will prove you created it. I've always been told by lawyers the old mail yourself a copy is BS, doesn't prove anything.

arkoenig · Post by **arkoenig** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:45 pm

My understanding (in the USA) is that works are born copyrighted, and you do not have to do anything special to protect them.

However, if you do want to be able to enforce your rights, you have to register the work with the Library of Congress before you can go to court. You do not have to have registered it before the infraction occurred, however.

At least that's what I think.

But why trust me? You can go to the Library of Congress directly and they'll give you the official word on anything you need to know.

Copyrighting your own tracks

Copyrighting your own tracks

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