How Much A Copyright Costs For An Album Being Registered By A Band Using The Eco Registration Format

How to Copyright Music
Article past David Nevue - Updated March 2010

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Dorsum to Cyberspace Music Promotion 101

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How Practice I Copyright My Music?
That'due south a question I get asked a lot here at the Music Biz Academy. So, I decided I might as well write a formal article about it.

I talk over the issue in detail in my book,

How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet, so I've more than or less included an excerpt from that here. Then hither we go... Why Copyright My Music?
If you see yourself as a serious musician (and I assume you lot practise), you would be wise to register your original songs with the U.S. Copyright Office (if you reside outside of the U.S., skip to the section on International Copyright below). This will protect you in the outcome that someone, somewhere, steals one of your songs and claims it every bit their ain. Whether you lot want to copyright just 1 song for possible digital distribution or an unabridged CD of nerveless works, the process is the same. The eCO Online System
The U.Southward. Copyright Office encourages you to annals your music via an online registration process chosen the eCO Online Organization. One time you go there, create an account for yourself, then log in and you�re ready to start. Registering a copyright via this process is not all that difficult, but the technical language can be confusing. The online procedure does walk you stride-by-step through filling out the document, only even so, take your time. Carefully read the assistance links (the underlined text) provided each step of the way. If you practise that, it will help you understand what information goes where.

Yous�ll find a copyright tutorial for the eCO system at http://world wide web.copyright.gov/eco/eco-tutorial.pdf . I recommend y'all take a look at that before you undertake this process to see what yous�re in for.
The filing fee for online song registration is $35.

A few tips regarding the eCO process that I think might help you:

• You�ll want to annals your music equally a "sound recording" equally this kind of registration includes not only the functioning, but the underlying music itself.
  
• Under "Title of Piece of work" add together the name of your CD first and set the "Type" equally "Title of work beingness registered." And then list your song titles and set the "Type" for those as "Contents Title." So the album name is the "Title," the individual songs are the "Contents."
  
• If y'all take comprehend songs on your album, yous�ll exclude those under the "Limitation of Claim" section. For case, if rails 7 on your CD is a encompass tune, nether "Material Excluded" check the boxes for "Music" and "Lyrics" (if you have lyrics) then in the infinite for "Other" betoken "Runway vii." Then under "New Fabric Included" check all the boxes and under "Other" list the track numbers for your original songs. So hither you specify what tracks to exclude for copyright registration (considering they belong to someone else) and which tracks to register under your own name. If all the songs on your album are original, you lot can skip this section entirely.

Once you take filled out the grade and verified all your information, add together it toyour cart, pay for information technology, and so you�ll receive an email with instructions on how to print out your registration and mail it in with copies of your CD. Yous tin can too upload the files digitally, if yous adopt.

If you lot don�t wish to go through the online process, you lot can type all of your information in Form CO, impress information technology out and mail it in.

And you�ll discover instructions for Form CO at http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formco2d-ins.pdf . Fill out the PDF file post-obit the instructions and then print TWO copies. I re-create for yourself, and one copy to post to the Library of Congress to the address provided.

The toll to submit the grade by postal service is $50.00.

Either way you lot become, whether online or via mail, it will take six months to a yr for the Library of Congress to process your registration. Still, once y'all�ve submitted your work, you�re officially protected. If you use FedEx to send your copyright forms (which I suggest y'all do), keep your tracking number handy and yous can present this as legal proof of your constructive date of copyright registration should you always need information technology. What Does Copyright Registration Do for Me?
Well, if someone does steal your work, not just can you bear witness the work is yours by your registration, but you lot tin can also sue for amercement (you tin�t legally sue for damages if your song isn�t registered with the copyright role). If the copyright infringement is determined to exist deliberate, your attorney can initiate a formal criminal investigation.

Registering your songs' copyright grants you these sectional rights:

• The right to brand copies and duplicate your CD
• The right to distribute your music
• The right to prepare derivative works (alternate versions, new arrangements)
• The right to perform the songs publicly
• The right to display the production publicly
• The correct to perform publicly via digital audio transmission

Once you�ve registered your sound recording (your CD) with the U.S. copyright office, these rights belong exclusively to yous and y'all solitary (provided, of course, that you are the actual copyright possessor). No one can take those rights from you.

Once your song is registered, you no longer have to worry about someone stealing your song thought and taking credit for information technology. If someone does that, gets a hitting out of it and you tin can testify the song is yours with your registered copyright, you are going to smile all the way to the bank when the court awards you damages, which can be very high for copyright theft.

How to Copyright Private Digital Creations
What if you only want to copyright a unmarried song (or video, or photo, or article, or weblog or whatever) to prove it�south yours? See http://www.myfreecopyright.com/ . At this web site you tin upload your digital files, exist they music, video, pictures or any, and they are instantly copyrighted and you can prove the date/time of registration. The service is free, and it�s a very simple mode to copyright your individual music creations. But and then you know, however, even though you can use this digital copyright in a courtroom of law to prove infringement, y'all cannot collect statutory damages from the infringer. You can collect lost profits that might exist determined, only not statutory damages which is mostly where the big money comes from. To collect statutory amercement, you still need to ship in a registration form into the copyright office as stated higher up. What About Creative Commons?
At that place is an alternative ways by which you may copyright your work chosen Creative Commons ( http://world wide web.creativecommons.org ). Basically what this does is create a copyright for your music whereby instead of all rights existence reserved, simply some rights are reserved. This invites others to use your work for certain purposes without having to go permission from you commencement. In theory, this means people searching for music to use in their products or digital creations are more likely to use your music if they don�t accept to jump through a lot of legal hoops to make use of information technology. So, for example, you might permit a vocal to be used in a non-commercial production (ie. no financial profit for the benefactor) without forcing the licensee to get permission from yous, merely still reserve the right to collect a royalty if the production in question is a money-maker. The Creative Commons copyright is still a rather new concept, and there are many variations on it that may make the concert confusing for the potential licensee. Even so, information technology is something to at to the lowest degree be aware of if the concept becomes more than widely recognized and accepted. For a listing of the different Artistic Eatables licenses available, come across http://creativecommons.org/virtually/licenses/meet-the-licenses What About International Copyright?
If you are not a citizen of the United States, obviously the comments above practise not use to you equally every land handles the copyright process a flake differently. Even so, chances are that your homeland is a member of the World Intellection Property Organization (WIPO). If so, you can start researching your copyright options at http://www.wipo.int/members/en/ . Select your state name from the WIPO list, follow the �contact data� link, and that will take y'all to a page that lists the web site address of the copyright office for your state.

Some notable and related links from this article:

The U.Southward. Copyright Function : http://www.copyright.gov
Copyright and Fair Use: http://fairuse.stanford.edu
Copyright Your Web Site: http://world wide web.gocopyright.com
Copyright Form SR: http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html
Copyright Your Digital Cosmos: http://www.myfreecopyright.com
Globe Intellection Property Org: http://www.wipo.int/members/en/
The Harry Fox Agency: http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

The above a cursory, (and slightly edited) excerpt from How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Net.

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David Nevue is the founder of The Music Biz University and Whisperings: Solo Pianoforte Radio. He is also a professional pianist , recording artist, total-time Internet musician, and writer of the volume, " How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet ."

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How Much A Copyright Costs For An Album Being Registered By A Band Using The Eco Registration Format,

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