Anyone Used MasterWriter

[ajenkz]

Thanks for the link. I just thought something like that might be useful to show ownership before I actually go through the process of copyrighting a song thats still a work in progress, but that I might post online or send to people for opinions/contributions.

[kouly]

I do not think there is anything out there that will take the place of actually registering a piece for copyright. Any services that do the registering for you are just going to do what you could do and charge you even more money than the goverment. The one nice thing about CC is that it will prove ownership but you have to be willing to give permission to have the work shared. I have heard from a trusted musician (one of Madonna's musical directors) that the mailing thing (mailing a piece to yourself by certified mail and keeping it unopened) will not hold up in court. So I would not trust that form of protection. The thing with Songuard is that it had never been tested in the legal system so any claims that it would protect you are just speculation.

[ajenkz]

Quote:I do not think there is anything out there that will take the place of actually registering a piece for copyright. Any services that do the registering for you are just going to do what you could do and charge you even more money than the goverment. The one nice thing about CC is that it will prove ownership but you have to be willing to give permission to have the work shared. I have heard from a trusted musician (one of Madonna's musical directors) that the mailing thing (mailing a piece to yourself by certified mail and keeping it unopened) will not hold up in court. So I would not trust that form of protection. The thing with Songuard is that it had never been tested in the legal system so any claims that it would protect you are just speculation. So with a CC, once I get the song registered with the Copyright office, it will no longer be available under a CC agreement (and therefore no longer available for people to use)? If so, that sounds perfect for what im looking for.I've never trusted the mail method of protection, but I thought maybe MasterWriter had something worked out so that the SongGuard feature was legally acceptable.

[kouly]

I would check on the web site about the permissions granted. I think I read on the site that once a CC is granted it can't be removed (like getting toothpaste back into the tube). The site can give you the answers you need.

[edteja]

http://www.copyrightedsongs.com/ does a time stamped digital record of your songs.

[ibanez468]

Hey Travleing Ed,That's interesting. Sounds like just the thing everyone needs for temporary protection of a song(s). Or at least until one can gather enough of their compositions together to send off to the copyright office. Thanks for sharing this with us. I'll definitely look into that!ibanez468

[rld]

Being a skeptic at heart, I wonder if there is any proof that these online date stamp services actually work?Can these companies say there has been a court decision that used their service and it was deemed "good enough" ?I have a feeling that these type of services are todays version of the "poor mans copyright" which, as we all know is an urban myth.From Copyrighted Songs website... "Of course, there are several differences between using Copyrighted Songs and the US Copyright Office. That’s why we require you to be fully informed about how they work before using one of them."Again, I don't know, I'm just asking.

[edteja]

The only thing I can say is that it is better than no proof. You can show that you created a version of the song at some point in time. I was actually responding to Akjenz question about anything like songguard being available. This is a fairly new service. I don't pretend to be a legal person, other than in self defense, so I can't answer for its legal value.

[ajenkz]

Thanks for the link, looks like an interesting thing. I'll try it out.

[Pinkstar]

Thank you for the links;)xoxoJVBQuote:Like most software, I've heard pros and cons.I have a physical rhyming dictionary & thesaurus, but I also have these bookmarked:http://www.rhymezone.com/http://educati ... esaurus/As far as lyrics go, I work on them in an email to myself & send them to myself & print them off; and I save them also to a file with that song's name on my project hard drive. I haven't got as far as organizing them alphabetically with paper (I have a lyric drawer, though), but the lyrics are easy to find if they are filed as a musical project. Then when I create a chord progression, I input that into the word file; or I set it up in Band in a Box so I have a lead sheet. All this stuff will be stored in the same place, under the song name... and music added to the same folder as well. And it will all be backed up as well.In terms of copyright - I know the Library of Congress is betatesting online registration, I'll go for that when it's set-up - $35 for the first song and $1 thereafter. I can budget $45/$50 a month for each month's work.just the way I do things.