Hello all
I was speaking to a couple of guys the other day who have just finished recording a 10 track album which they are really please with and after a brief listen I think they may have recorded something quite special. Anyway we got round to talking about Copyrighting their music and they informed me they had sorted it already. Wow I said how much did it cost you (knowing that some people charge an absolute fortune to do this). Nothing they said. It turns out they have believed the old “poor man’s copyright” story.
If you have never heard of this let me quickly fill you in. The concept is simple. The idea of copyright is to prove (in case of plagiarism) that you had a particular idea first. So under the “poor man’s copyright” theory you burn a CD, put it in an envelope and send it to yourself. Then when it arrives never open it and keep it in a safe place. The idea is that the piece of mail will have a date stamp on it proving that the music on it was created at that particular time. So in 10 years time you can sue the latest Simon Cowell robot that is stealing, and I imagine murdering, your song.
THIS IS A MODERN DAY MYTH AND WILL NOT STAND UP IN A COURT OF LAW
Sorry to break it to you but there is no provision for such an activity in Copyright Law. It is kinda obvious why as it is so open to being faked. You could send yourself an empty envelope, not seal the envelope and put anything in it, etc,etc. I know a load of bands think that this is ok and will give them some level of protect but it will not give you any protection at all. In fact you could even in extreme examples face a lawsuit of your own for such a move.
Copyrighting is not that expensive anymore, particularly if you do it online. I have heard about 2 UK companies that offer Copywriting for a good price (Please note: I have no affiliation with these companies – see no affiliate links and no need to mention Band assist. Plus I have not delved 100% into them so do a bit of due diligence yourself):
Copyright Services – provide a 5 year copyright for 1 song for £39 or 10 years for £65
Protect my work – do things a little differently and you pay £25 a year then it only costs £1 per song after that (at the moment they seem to be offering 5 free songs when you sign up.)
Copyrighting your work is always a good idea – there are a lot of bad people out there looking to make cash from others hard work – but it is not essential to copyright everything straight away. If you have the funds get it done, if not just focus on the music – you can always write another Rock Anthem!
Till next time
I was speaking to a couple of guys the other day who have just finished recording a 10 track album which they are really please with and after a brief listen I think they may have recorded something quite special. Anyway we got round to talking about Copyrighting their music and they informed me they had sorted it already. Wow I said how much did it cost you (knowing that some people charge an absolute fortune to do this). Nothing they said. It turns out they have believed the old “poor man’s copyright” story.
If you have never heard of this let me quickly fill you in. The concept is simple. The idea of copyright is to prove (in case of plagiarism) that you had a particular idea first. So under the “poor man’s copyright” theory you burn a CD, put it in an envelope and send it to yourself. Then when it arrives never open it and keep it in a safe place. The idea is that the piece of mail will have a date stamp on it proving that the music on it was created at that particular time. So in 10 years time you can sue the latest Simon Cowell robot that is stealing, and I imagine murdering, your song.
THIS IS A MODERN DAY MYTH AND WILL NOT STAND UP IN A COURT OF LAW
Sorry to break it to you but there is no provision for such an activity in Copyright Law. It is kinda obvious why as it is so open to being faked. You could send yourself an empty envelope, not seal the envelope and put anything in it, etc,etc. I know a load of bands think that this is ok and will give them some level of protect but it will not give you any protection at all. In fact you could even in extreme examples face a lawsuit of your own for such a move.
Copyrighting is not that expensive anymore, particularly if you do it online. I have heard about 2 UK companies that offer Copywriting for a good price (Please note: I have no affiliation with these companies – see no affiliate links and no need to mention Band assist. Plus I have not delved 100% into them so do a bit of due diligence yourself):
Copyright Services – provide a 5 year copyright for 1 song for £39 or 10 years for £65
Protect my work – do things a little differently and you pay £25 a year then it only costs £1 per song after that (at the moment they seem to be offering 5 free songs when you sign up.)
Copyrighting your work is always a good idea – there are a lot of bad people out there looking to make cash from others hard work – but it is not essential to copyright everything straight away. If you have the funds get it done, if not just focus on the music – you can always write another Rock Anthem!
Till next time
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