Protect
Your Artistic Work by Learning More about Music
Copyrights
Copyrighting
Songs
When I was first starting out
as a local musician, I never thought that it was
important to copyright my music. I always assumed
that music copyrights were for the big, corporate
artists who had signed to major labels.
Why Copyrighting for Regular
People?
Why would someone small like
me require a music copyright? If anything, I wanted
my songs to be copied and shared. I wanted people
to use them in remixes, to trade them with friends,
and to play them anytime they could.
This is how small artists
grow – by being having their music shared
throughout the community. Music copyrights at best
do nothing to stem this, and at worse, discourage
people from copying CDs.
If I had gotten a copyright
for music way back then, it would have saved me a
lot of hassle later on. You see, you can have a
music copyright that doesn't stop people from
sharing your songs. The important thing about music
copyrights is that they allow you to establish
ownership of the song.
The Proof Lies with
You
Otherwise, it is difficult to
prove that you wrote a song if someone wants to rip
it off. This is exactly what happened to me.
Because I had no music copyrights, when one of my
songs was stolen it was impossible for me to prove
it.
Although there was some
evidence that I had been playing that song for a
while before it came on the scene under someone
else's name, it wasn't enough to make my
case.
Learn the Laws Governing
Copyrights
Even if you want people to be
able to share your songs, it is still a good idea
for you to research music copyright laws. There is
a thing called the general public license copyright
which is perfect if you want to show authorship
without limiting people's access to your music.
It allows people to freely
copy, trade, and modify your song as long as they
give you credit for it. Had I gotten this kind of
music copy right, it would have saved me a lot of
hassle and heart ache. Now I know better. I
copyright my songs religiously.
Just because you are
concerned about intellectual property music
protection does not mean that you can't copyright
your songs. No matter what rights you want people
to have with your songs, there is probably a
music
copyright that is set up for your use.
Nothing is more crushing to a
musician or writer, or any other artisan than to
have his or her work stolen. Do what you can to
protect yourself against it!
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