Songwriting tips for lyricists, poets and songwriters – Q10

Question 10 After I finish writing a song and play it for someone, shouldn’t I be worried that they might steal it? The chances of anyone stealing or even wanting to steal your song are slim to nil. True copyright infringement is much rarer than you might think. People just don’t go around stealing other peoples songs and lyrics unless it was recorded by Michael Jackson or some other big superstar, and they turn it into a big hit. Then every Tom, Dick, Harry and Sally seem to come out of the woodwork insisting that they wrote that song way back in 1974. 99.9 percent of these people lose their cases because they have nothing to back up their claims. If you’re still worried REMEMBER THIS. Once you have created a song or a lyric, and registered it in some kind of a fixed or tangible form, it is then a property that You Own, and is automatically protected by copyright. Proof of ownership and copyright is achieved by registration of the copyrighted song. This registered proof need only be a cassette copy of you singing your song, or a music lead sheet of the song. Remember to put the copyright symbol, a small © with a circle around it, followed by the date and your name. Unpublished works need no copyright notice, but it is still a GOOD IDEA to put the ‘copyright’ mark and use the phrase, © unpublished 2011, Your Name words and music by Your Name. Copyright Information, or what I like to call Safe Songwriting is dealt with in detail in Chapter 7 of THE SONGSCULPTOR METHOD …

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Author: TheSongsculptor
Duration: 124
Published: 2011-03-19 20:04:29
Q10 Songwriting tips for lyricists, poets and songwriters