The Copyright is essentially
used to protect a songwriter
and his material from
unlawful use or reproduction.
This protection is in
the form of legally enforceable
privileges granted by
law. Those being the "exclusive
rights" to make and sell
your own material free
from exploitation by others.
The bearer of a copyright
can make money by selling
or licensing this right
to anyone they may chose.
Anytime you write a song
you should protect it,
especially if you are
going to be performing
or recording said song.
By law, 2 prerequisites
must be met before a "musical
work" can be copyrighted
: The song must be original
and 2) on paper, tape
or any other hard-copy
proof - lead sheet and
lyrics. A lead sheet is
a basic frame work of
the song with the Chords
and Melody.
REGISTERING
A COPYRIGHT
The first step to copyrighting
your material is to locate
the necessary forms, in
the US contact the Library
Of Congress and in Canada
contact your local musicians
union to find out where
they can be acquired.
SUBMISSIONS
To get your material properly
copyrighted you will need
to submit the necessary
forms, a lead sheet. For
non-published works, a
cassette should be sent
in with the words, basic
melody and rhythm, it
does not need to be a
fully produced and arranged
work.
COPYRIGHT
NOTICE
The proper notice of claim
in a song or sound recording
is very important when
protecting your notice.
It tells people that the
work has been registered
and cannot be used or
altered in any form without
the express written consent
of the author. The proper
symbols to use with sheet
music and written lyrics
is ©, for sound recordings,
CD's, cassettes and vinyl
the circle containing
the letter "p". (Unfortunately,
I do not have this particular
symbol at the moment).
You may also use the word
"Copyright" or "Copr."
All notices should contain
1) the symbol 2) the year
of publication 3) the
name of the copyright
owner.
(Example) © 1999 Music
Media Network
All Rights Reserved
DEMO'S
& COPYRIGHT
For all unpublished demo
material you should include
the copyright symbol.
Because it is a demo you
don't legally need to
include it but it¹s better
to add that extra amount
of assurance. The best
thing to do is to include
the symbols on all songs,
tapes and lead sheets.
As mentioned above, this
is an added element that
can demonstrate that you
understand the finer points
of the music industry
and your career but it
also demonstrates that
you take your music and
all that is involved seriously.
DURATION
OF COPYRIGHTS
The protection of a song
or recording begins on
the date of creation and
lasts generally the lifetime
of the author plus 50
years. Example: your song
is copyrighted in 1997
and you live until 2037,
your copyright will be
protected until 2087.
POOR
MAN'S COPYRIGHT
There is a fee to copyright
your material so I've
included the standard
"Poor man's copyright"
which entails putting
the necessary information
in a Self Addressed Stamped
Envelope (S.A.S.E.) and
mailing the pack to yourself.
How does it protect your
material? By going through
the postal office, which
is run by the government,
it will be stamped with
an official stamp that
includes the date, month
and year. When you receive
your pack back do not
open it. Keep it in a
safe place until you can
properly register your
material.
PUBLISHING
& SELF-PUBLISHING
As an independent artist
one hurdle that you will
come to is publishing.
Publishing can seem like
a completely foreign concept
for new unsigned bands
and artists but it doesn't
have to be, if you made
it through the above paragraph
(Copyrights) then you'll
breeze through this one.
Publishing, in simple
terms, deals with selling
music via public performance
which are Radio, Television,
Movies, Concert Halls
and Clubs.
OVERVIEW
The concept of publishing
involves exploitation
of your music to the several
avenues mentioned above.
Exploitation defined in
the music industry is
considered the process
of making money from original
compositions. Coupled
with the above avenues
of exploiting your music
are selling your compositions
to other bands and musicians
who will record and exploit
them; this will entitle
you to mechanical royalties
on every recording sold.
Anytime you make a song
available (CD, album,
cassette, software, sheet
music) for public sale
it is considered published.
Once your song(s)/composition(s)
are made available you
also exercise your copyright(s).
Any person or band that
wants to use your song/composition
is now required to give
you notice and pay for
that use.
During the early '50s
and '60s many musicians
who signed recording contracts
gave up all rights to
their publishing and settled
for a flat rate payment
per recorded song which
could be anywhere from
50.00 to 500.00 and up.
Lack of understanding
the concept of publishing
left many of these famous
musicians and bands broke
later on in life. The
reason they ended up without
any money is because they
signed away their publishing.
Publishing is where an
artist generates the bulk
of all monies made from
a recording. Those publishing
companies and persons
that hold onto famous
songs and continuously
re-issue them in various
forms, like compilations
are collecting the money
from CD/cassettes sold
and radio airplay while
the author of the song
collects no money.
As an example, if I owned
the publishing to the
entire Beatles song catalog
and manufactured CD/cassettes
and albums; all monies
generated from the exploitation
of this catalog would
go to me, not to any member
of the Beatles. Michael
Jackson bought the rights
to a large section of
the Beatles catalog because
he knew that they will
continue to make money
for decades in re-issues,
commercial use, radio
airplay and sheet music.
If any member of the Beatles
wanted to release an old
sold that Michael Jackson
owned, they would have
to pay him a percentage
of all royalties earned.
Bottom line is that you
always want to retain
a minimum of 50% of your
publishing if not more
with the exception that
you are being offered
an incredible deal. The
most a professional publishing
company usually requires
is 50% if a company asks
for a larger portion then
you should look elsewhere
or go the DiY Route....
the art of Self Publishing.
SELF-PUBLISHING
The major reason in forming
your own publishing company
is that any radio airplay
will generate performance
royalties. These royalties
are payed to the composer
and publisher, so having
your own publishing company
guarantees the composer
(and you the publisher)
all income to which they
are entitled.
To establish a publishing
company you'll have to
create a company name.
This name will be used
on all official business
and displayed on your
record covers and label,
lyric sheet inserts, and
sheet music. The information
informs others that you
hold the rights as a composer
and publisher and also
makes it easy for others
interested in your compositions
to contact you. Once you've
chosen a name you'll need
to register and join either
ASCAP, BMI or SOCAN. They
are the organizations
that collect and distribute
your royalties.
Once you've done that
you are ready to begin
as a legal publishing
company. Having your own
company can also give
you added leverage for
any other publisher interested
in acquiring your publishing/catalog
and last but not least
establishes a certain
professionalism which
only helps in your career.
COPYRIGHT
INFRINGEMENT
Copyright infringement
occurs when someone knowingly
or unknowingly takes a
portion or all of a published
song and incorporates
it into their own song
claiming them as their
own.
Many people use blank
cassettes to record their
favourite albums onto
for use on walkman's,
tape decks etc...this
is actually a form of
copyright infringement,
though a blind eye is
generally turned.
Varying copyright infringements
are:
Illegal
sampling (which will be
discussed in the next
paragraph)
Selling
unauthorized tapes/CD's
of another artist
Bootlegging
- Recording live performances
and selling them to the
public
Taking
an already existing song
and using it in it's entirety
on your own album (Compilation)
Sampling by definition is
- the collection of any
aural event in any format
for further incorporation
into a composition. Commonly
being the digital acquisition
of an aural event for manipulation
before final use. There
are many sources of sampling
from libraries to albums
to environmental sound.
Sampling has become a
hot issue within the music
industry for years. More
recently it has focused
around hip-hop/rap (it
shows up in many genres
of music not just hip-hop
and rap) utilizing older
song clips and incorporating
them into new songs. This
is not a problem as long
as you as the artist have
received clearance from
the copyright holder.
If the author is not properly
credited than that work
can be considered as copyright
infringement and is punishable
by law, and quite expensive.
The biggest question surrounding
sampling has been what
constitutes copyright
infringement? Is it the
entire song or a portion
of it?
This becomes the question
of "Fair Use". Fair Use
defined as: "reasonable
unauthorized copying from
a copyrighted work, when
the copying does not substantially
impair present or potential
value of the original
work, and in some way
advances the public benefit".
Generally the myth has
been that sampling 4 bars
of a song constitutes
fair use. This is not
the case, there are many
memorable songs that can
be recognized by the first
2 notes, not even the
full 4-bars. For this
reason is comes down to
the notes involved. Taking
a string of notes such
as the A-D-E chord progression
cannot be considered copyrighted,
but using The Troggs,
"Wild Thing" in it's entirety
can be, due to all elements
involved to create the
song.
To avoid copyright infringement,
many musicians, producers
and artists have taken
portions of songs and
electronically altered
them with filters, EQ,
FX and other equipment
that is can be virtually
undetectable to the ear
and therefore a tough
case to challenge in court.
What is your best coarse
of action if you want
to release material that
contains a copyrighted
piece of material? If
you are just using it
for your own personal
use and do not plan to
release it to the public
then you are generally
safe. But if you plan
to release it on CD,tape
or vinyl then you need
to be granted clearance
from a clearance house.
(Check with your government
for more info) Copyright
holders will received
a percentage of all sales
for the use of their material.
The range is .005 to .03
per unit sold. Clearance
costs escalate when more
than one sample is used
on a recording. The other
option is to "Buy Out",
where you pay a flat rate
for use of the sample
(ranging from 250 - 10,000)
depending.
PUBLIC
DOMAIN SONGS
Public domain songs are
protected for 50 years
from copyright. If they
are not renewed at that
time the become the property
of the public and can
be used in any medium
and free from infringement.
You are free to sample
the entire the song, release
the song or just about
any other creative usage,
and not be violating law.
