My friend wants to copyright his words and music, but is unsure of the need to copyright the collection as a whole? or does he have to copyright song by song, and then copyright the collection?
2006-10-05 10:29:05 · 3 answers · asked by Paull B 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Performing Arts
First of all, you'll need to obtain form PA (performing arts) from the Library of Congress. Easy to download from their website. Print out the instructions as well, and you will be able to see your options in registering your work(s). At $30 a pop, I've registered my compositions as a collection whenever possible. Check out my work at www.jimomusic.com on the music page. Lotsa luck.
2006-10-07 00:12:37 · answer #1 · answered by Jimo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's actually a couple copyrights at issue. One is for the words and music, if he's written both. He will claim a copyright for each song. The second is the copyright for his performance on each song.
If a song he wrote (words and music) is performed by someone else, that person would get the copyright on that performance, but your friend still has the song itself copyrighted.
The copyright for the recording uses form SR (and form CON if there needs to be a continuation). You can find those forms and more information here: http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html
The copyright for the underlying words and music uses form PA. That form is at this link: http://www.copyright.gov/register/performing.html
The copyright office has more information on this, as well as which form is appropriate for which use.
By default, your friend does have a copyright just by creating the song, and another by recording the song. If your friend ever wants to enforce that copyright against another in court, the copyright needs to be registered. Registering the copyright also provides an indication of how long the work has been around. This last part isn't exact, since someone could wait years before registering a copyright, but it can show that the work was claimed by the creator on a particular date.
2006-10-08 11:30:14 · answer #2 · answered by question_ahoy 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
He has to copyright the contents of his/her Album-But the Album Title to be registered first.
2006-10-05 17:36:23 · answer #3 · answered by precede2005 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋