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copywriting songs & lyrics?
My wife & i write song lyrics & we have them copywritten .I wrote the music for one of them & made the chorus shorter..do we need to copywrite the revised version also?
The answer above is a little off. Basically, a song is copyrighted the moment you create it, as is any revision. The key is protecting the copyright. You can register songs individually with the US Govt. (I’ll edit when I find the link) but that can get expensive. More common is for songwriters to put together a collection of 10 or 20 of their songs and copyright them as a collection. It’s then up to the songwriter to keep track of what songs are in what collection, but it’s more economical that way. I’ll be back with the link…
It’s a good idea to copyright them in the form that they are presented. Copyright law is easily gotten around these days… all the person who wants to steal your work has to do is change a few words, or a couple of notes, so copyrights are a little moot, actually. It’s been that way since the Reagan Years, and big corporation routinely steal rather famous songs and get away with it by putting in tiny variations.
So really there is no protection. It would help if you are serious about your work, to set up your own publishing company. This affords you greater legal leverage than if you are an independent writer. And in the event that someone actually wants to do your song in the greater world, it gives you greater negotiating power.
Good luck to you.
Songwriting isn’t much of a business anymore, but if you love to do it, that’s great.
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The answer above is a little off. Basically, a song is copyrighted the moment you create it, as is any revision. The key is protecting the copyright. You can register songs individually with the US Govt. (I’ll edit when I find the link) but that can get expensive. More common is for songwriters to put together a collection of 10 or 20 of their songs and copyright them as a collection. It’s then up to the songwriter to keep track of what songs are in what collection, but it’s more economical that way. I’ll be back with the link…
References :
Yeah, I think that first post is incorrect. Just look at the Vanilla Ice scam when he tried to steal Under Pressure from Queen. Even though he changed the base by adding a note, he still got sued and lost in the courts. Copyright protects the work as it is written, so if the piece is important to you spend the money and copyright again. Here’s the link: http://www.copyright.gov/
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