Login

Signup

• Home
• Learn
  • Articles
  • Dictionary
• Blog
• About Us
  • What is Audio Mecca
  • Why We’re Here to Help You
  • How We’ll Help You
• Contact

 There are many myths and misperceptions surrounding the laws of intellectual property, especially as it pertains to music copyright laws and the rights of “original authorship“.
(Songwriters/music producers/artists/info product creators, etc... The Content Creators)

Instead of list every myth being circulated, here is what you need to know about securing your original songs/material as it concerns  us ”content creators.” If you are a songwriter, composer, producer, or a writer/idea generator of intellectual property and not necessarily a “music maker,” it doesn’t matter, the law is the same.... This article will explain what music copyright laws are, and run-through the things you  need to know about its uses.

....Music copyright Laws... What’s a copyright in the first place?

 
 A copyright is simply your claim to ownership of an original work.
When you form a new musical or written piece of content/create something, you are the originator... You have exclusive copyrights to that material the moment you transfer that idea into what is best described as a tangible form, or a fixed state... “Perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” In other words, once you’ve written it down, performed it for people, or in some way-authored new content, you instantly own all rights of the material.  

The U.S. Copyright Office in the Library of Congress-is a government service established to collect and house our intellectual property, ya know... for a little fee! :) Registering your works in a massive centralized database - “legally“ establishes your material as being created by you and provides a verified date of origin/registration.

By filing a form by mail, or-online now, your copyright registration can be used as the most convenient and verifiable form of evidence, or “creation receipt” if you will, in case of infringement suits and issues.

That being said, it is good to note - that one can only file an official infringement dispute
if that work (the original work) is registered first.
 
There are good reasons to file through the copyright office formally, but, understand it is not granting you rights to your own material...Rather, It provides you the most formally documented security in case you had to prove the materials origin. Use your discretion, you don’t need to copyright every new song sketch or verse lyric you come up with one night. But if you are going to release a commercially available album, it’s a smart thing to do. Additionally, when you do it that way, you can register them as a collection and save significantly by only paying one fee...  ($35 or so now) Instead of registering the songs one by one, paying the fee each time.