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with a fee of 75.000 usd to even take a case to federal court, is there any point of copyrighting your stuff at all? or am i missing out on something here?

Don't listen to the rumors. ALWAYS register your works. Intellectual property is very important. You want to make sure that you have your songs copyrighted.

You do not need to someone to make at least $75,000 USD to pursue someone in court for violating your copyright. In fact, you may never have to even step foot in a courtroom. You would have your lawyer(s) fight those battles. Most people do not want to go to court and will settle.

Do not listen to the rumors. ALWAYS protect your intellectual property!

what he said...

Clifford Goldmacher of educatedsongwriter.com says that copyrighting isn't really necessary until you have a placement already. Any wisdom to this or no?

Commissary wrote:Clifford Goldmacher of educatedsongwriter.com says that copyrighting isn't really necessary until you have a placement already. Any wisdom to this or no?

I would register regardless. Better safe than sorry.

DesireInspires wrote:

Commissary wrote:Clifford Goldmacher of educatedsongwriter.com says that copyrighting isn't really necessary until you have a placement already. Any wisdom to this or no?

I would register regardless. Better safe than sorry.

Good point. Thanks bro.

Everything you write is copyright as soon as you put it in a tangible form. The registration is to have further proof -- a registered date. A cheap way to do it is by copyrighting a collection with the library of congress (make sure you list each title in the collection).

There's something to be said about postponing copyright until the track is actually in a library, with a publisher, etc. Doing copyright in advance of anything really happening can make some exclusive deals potentially harder (for the library) because they essentially have to undo everything you've done and re-do it again to place the copyright with themselves.

As Hummingbird said, you can register entire "collections" of music in one fell swoop. Maybe consider keeping track of which songs get picked up during the year and those that are in something non-exclusive, register all those tracks at the same time with one small fee.

I once had someone tell me they couldn't send me a song for listening until they got a copyright. That's a little extreme.

davewalton wrote:There's something to be said about postponing copyright until the track is actually in a library, with a publisher, etc. Doing copyright in advance of anything really happening can make some exclusive deals potentially harder (for the library) because they essentially have to undo everything you've done and re-do it again to place the copyright with themselves.

As Hummingbird said, you can register entire "collections" of music in one fell swoop. Maybe consider keeping track of which songs get picked up during the year and those that are in something non-exclusive, register all those tracks at the same time with one small fee.

I once had someone tell me they couldn't send me a song for listening until they got a copyright. That's a little extreme.

So you would agree with Clifford Goldmacher then? Both views have great points. I can see why one would copyright in advance and I can also see why one would wait until a placement is lined up. I'm about to start pitching tracks soon (I have two demos being cut as we speak), so I'm trying to learn for myself what's the wisest thing to do.

I'm with desire inspires ( dig the flaming avatar btw ). Intellectual property has a value - register it.

Wait and do multiple tracks as a collection - otherwise the fees add up quickly.