Copyright before and after Substantial Changes?

[TomHBrown]

I know the good rule of thumb is to copyright a song before sending it out to anybody (even TAXI, as they say)...but what happens if I get a $20 Custom Critique and make substantial changes to lyrics, chorus, or both? Do I need to copyright again (and can I without confusing people searching for the song) under the same title? I think it costs a lot more to re-copyright (or whatever the term is ) the same song when it's been "revised." Not looking for legal advice, but maybe someone has had a custom critique and made lots of changes to their song...how did you handle the "new" version?

[mazz]

According to copyright law (as I have seen it described, I'm not an attorney): A work is copyrighted the second that it is "fixed" in some form or another.

I would take this to mean that even the very early versions of the song being sung into a little recorder to be copyrighted under the US copyright law.

Personally I wouldn't concern myself with sending a song to a custom critique or even submitting to a listing without the song being registered. The chances of your song being "stolen" are very very minute and any screener or client of Taxi's isn't going to ruin their reputation by ripping you off, it's not worth it. I think you should wait until your song is deemed "finished" by you to copyright it. Even then, I'd wait until you have a collection of songs so you only have to pay one copyright fee for the entire collection. Some folks do a "batch" copyright once a year. 30 or 40 bucks a song adds up pretty quickly. Typically copyright registration comes into play when and if there is an infringement claim, and as I said before, these are pretty rare.

Of course, others will weigh in, and keep in mind that I'm not an attorney so this isn't legal advice.

There are several good books out there on this and I would recommend you do some reading up on it. Taxi has a "books we love" link right on the front page of their website and they are all listed there.

Good luck!

Mazz

[TomHBrown]

Thanks, Mazz: Makes good sense. I appreciate your input.
Tom

[guitarhacker]

I don't copyright songs.

I use MasterWriter. It has a service called Songuard which is a secure server, and provides a date stamp and proof of creation.

I have had a number of songs signed through TAXI forwards, The publisher ( one of the A-list libraries) asked me not to register a copyright, nor to register it with my PRO. He explained that he would do both of those for me properly. By allowing him to register, it saves me the cost, and time and for him, it avoids having to refer to the previous registration numbers under my name and is less confusing with the PRO and royalty payments.

[TomHBrown]

Thanks, guitarhacker: I'll check out MasterWriter. Sounds like a good service.

[T&V Marino]

Hi Tom,

Copyrighting songs and be very costly. We copyright our songs in batches (collections) every 1-3 years (about 50-200 tracks at a time, depending on how productive we've been), and just pay a one-time fee. It really cuts down on the time and expense.

If we have a song or two that stands out -- or gets published -- THEN we'll copyright that song individually.

Mazz gave good and correct advice.

Also, don't forget to register your song with your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC). It's free and only takes a few minutes to do. It's another safeguard.

Good luck!

~ Tracey & Vance Marino