As a musician, you will never like others to copy your music and take the credit. So, to have the full credit and advantage of your creative asset, you need to know ins and outs of copyrighting your music and songs. You need to know as much as it is necessary to copyright your music.
Luckily, copyrighting your music is easy if you do it on time. Just do not neglect the need for copyrighting early, write down your songs or record it and just copyright following the following step by step guidelines:
Prepare Well For the Process
Preparing well is the key to completing the copyrighting process without hustles. First of all, have necessary info about the song like the name of the artist, album and any other important relevant information about the song. If you have multiple songs, make sure you have split sheets for each song. If there is an agreement that identifies each songwriter and producer and the percentage of their ownership of the song, make sure you add that as a document to submit to the government website. You should also include the MP3’s of the songs.
Visit U.S. Government’s Copyright Website
Once you have everything ready, you need to go to Copyright.gov to submit for your copyright. Simply, click on “Register a Copyright” and create your account. This website allows you to register or preregister your music. This means you can copyright any song even before it is out as a song. This is the safest way to completely safeguard your song against plagiarism. Creating your account on the website is easy and simple. Just pit your name, address, and contract details. If you are outside the U.S., you can include your country name.
Start a New Music Copyright Registration
Just after you are done creating your account, you can start a new song registration. Under check registration case status, you can find copyright registration. In this section, you can mention if you are registering one or multiple songs. Mention the type of work and add sound recordings.
Pay the Nominal $35 or $55 fee
Before you upload your files and all that are required, you need to pay the government fees. If you are registering just a single work, you need to pay $35 and for multiple works, the fee is $55. You can pay with your debut or credit card, e-check or directly deposit it given copyright office deposit bank account.
Upload The Works And Complete
Once you submit the payment, you can complete uploading all the files and documents. Once you complete uploading, you are done with your part. It can take several months for the preview process to be completed. Just come back to the website few months later to check the status.
Once you have a valid copyright for your music, if you find any music copyright infringement, you can file a case against the copier and get compensation winning the case. Make sure you know the fair use limits before you file for any case. Other people can use, 10 to 30 seconds of your music without breaking the copyright law.