Copyright Question...

[claire]

Possibly moving off thread a bit but I'm wondering - have any of you ever had one of your songs stolen? Titles are not copyrightable so hearing another song with your title doesn't count, but have any of you heard a song on the radio and thought "crap, that's my song!"? You hear of this kind of thing happening so seldom, I'm just curious. One guy I know in town was ready to sue the writers of "Nothing On But The Radio" because he'd been pitching his song in town, song called "Nothing But The Radio On". A friend of mine wrote a song called "What If It All Works Out" and then the song written for the Nashville Star winner was a similar title (or else my friend's song was "What If It All Goes Right" and the other one was...etc. etc. Point being, the two titles and ideas were so similar, it was cause for wondering. One of the cowriters of the Nashville Star song could have heard my friend's song, but how do you prove it? And sometimes you have to stop and decide if it's worth pursuing, worth creating a name for yourself that is not a good one. Infringement lawsuits are so lengthy and so expensive. Me personally, I stopped registering songs years ago. So far nobody has stolen anything I've written and I don't know if I should be relieved or insulted!Claire

[mojobone]

We should all be so lucky for someone to make a buck by stealing our song! They'll have done a lot of the heavy lifting for us by making it popular enough to be worth something, when most of us can't give our best stuff away. I have, in fact, heard songs virtually identical to those I've written on nationally broadcast television. The copyright law, as written, recognizes that great minds think alike; in order to prove infringement, there must be some plausible mechanism whereby the infringer could have heard your song in order for any infringement to have taken place.

[foglyte]

Registering a song with the library of congress (recommended) is akin to buying insurance in case lighting strikes.Great to have if needed...

[wignelson]

I register all of my songs when I can get around to it. TAXI recommends that you do so, but that's not why I do it. I started in 1979 with a collection. (Vol. 1) 34 songsThen again in 1993, 1993, 2006 and 2008.I have five volumes. (collections) (about 130 songs) Here's the last way I did it, which is pretty painless.For $35.00 (not $45.00 like snail mail) I did an e-copyright.Your claim stays open for 45 days and you just upload as many songs as you like during that period.If you want any particulars or instructions, feel free to PM me.Wig

[rfrey]

Oct 29, 2008, 10:22am, wignelson wrote:I register all of my songs when I can get around to it. TAXI recommends that you do so, but that's not why I do it. I started in 1979 with a collection. (Vol. 1) 34 songsThen again in 1993, 1993, 2006 and 2008.I have five volumes. (collections) (about 130 songs) Here's the last way I did it, which is pretty painless.For $35.00 (not $45.00 like snail mail) I did an e-copyright.Your claim stays open for 45 days and you just upload as many songs as you like during that period.If you want any particulars or instructions, feel free to PM me.WigThanks for this tip Wig! Perfect timing too as I am just completing a project and have to register a bunch of my songs. the e-copyright interface is a bit of a challenge but I think I have it down. I wasn't sure about the Title Type for this approach but it seems like it should be "Contents Titles". I hope that is correct.

[rivercitymusic]

Sept 17, 2008, 5:53pm, claire wrote:Possibly moving off thread a bit but I'm wondering - have any of you ever had one of your songs stolen? Titles are not copyrightable so hearing another song with your title doesn't count, but have any of you heard a song on the radio and thought "crap, that's my song!"? You hear of this kind of thing happening so seldom, I'm just curious. One guy I know in town was ready to sue the writers of "Nothing On But The Radio" because he'd been pitching his song in town, song called "Nothing But The Radio On". A friend of mine wrote a song called "What If It All Works Out" and then the song written for the Nashville Star winner was a similar title (or else my friend's song was "What If It All Goes Right" and the other one was...etc. etc. Point being, the two titles and ideas were so similar, it was cause for wondering. One of the cowriters of the Nashville Star song could have heard my friend's song, but how do you prove it? And sometimes you have to stop and decide if it's worth pursuing, worth creating a name for yourself that is not a good one. Infringement lawsuits are so lengthy and so expensive. Me personally, I stopped registering songs years ago. So far nobody has stolen anything I've written and I don't know if I should be relieved or insulted!ClaireIf you actually register your titles, as a songwriter should, and copyright your music; then, if your song pops up under some other author all you have to do is demand a copyright verification and or a title registration.Legally there are no outs here but you do have to pursue it or the crooks get away.Doc

[mojobone]

What crooks? Most songwriters are egotistical and way too proud to steal from the likes of me; the people that have me checking my wallet when I'm around 'em are usually club owners, accountants, lawyers, publishers, managers, agents...

[rivercitymusic]

Them's the crooks!Doc

[boyatheart]

If somebody stole one of my songs and they had a huge hit with it, then I would simply keep playing the song. People would probably think it was the best cover version they had ever heard ('cause it would be the way the song was meant to be) and if it started to get attention from people that way or even from the other party's attorneys then the subject could be discussed in more detail as I present my own evidence like the date-stamped files from my master recordings for example.I'm not worried about it to be honest. If I get a manager and a lawyer then I'll let them worry about it!

[gburgess]

bobbyalan,If you do decide to register your music via the copyright office, and you opt to submit a cd version, make sure you pay close attention to the directions they give regarding packaging your cd.As a security precaution they put packages through an irradiation process. A few years ago I submitted a cd that was not in a thick enough package so the content on my cd was lost.GB