Songwriter Tip:

In order to gain a longer protection, artists post-date their songs. If you look at the credits on a CD that came out this year, it should say something like ‘all songs ©2003, by… ‘It is possible that all the songs on that album were written this year, but that is generally not the case. Most of the time, a band or songwriter will bring in an older song that they’ve never recorded and it will still say ©2003 instead of ©1997. The reason for this is that they gain an extra six years before the song falls into public domain.