TAXI.com

Regarding Michael's letter today...
If we are target writing for Taxi, say ,one of the Ad agency listings with a quick turnaround, how might we have printed proof of copyright registration? It is true that we can register copyright online quickly and easily, but they don't send out the certificate all that quickly,so would it be safe to say that we could prove our copyright registration by printing out our account list from the eCO copyright reg. site? Or...any ideas..?

Yeah, It takes months and months to get your certificate from the copyright office. A publisher I am working with is putting out an album of the songs I have signed with them, and they needed proof of copyright. besides the one certificate I actually have, I just emailed them a PDF of the registration form from the site (one of which I just did that day), and it was fine enough for them.
I would think that would have to be OK with all of these quick turnarounds. Probably the majority of songs the ad agencies hear have been custom written for that particular gig. At least that's what I've been doing.
I've heard that once you register your song with the copyright office it is as good as copyrighted.
Paul

Yes, simply print a copy of the copyright registration submitted, either from on-line or the old fashioned way. Many folks, even the big boys, will never ask for it but it's good to have in case they do and as ML said, they might just ask.

Don't waste your time with methods other than actually filing with the US LOC Copyright office. Either do it right or don't bother at all.

Also, this is important but not worth getting freaked out over, especially if funds are tight. (1) You can copyright multiple works as a collection for one fee. (2) If funds are very tight and you've submitted to one of these major ad agency Taxi listings, you can still wait to see if you are forwarded before filing a copyright. (A few weeks won't matter). Let's say you are not forwarded. You can take a little time to queue up a few more tracks so you can copyright those as a collection for one fee.

I'm NOT discouraging anyone from filing US Copyrights as soon as you can. Just keep in mind that stealing is very, very rare. So if you have to wait a little, there is negligable risk. Of course, if a publisher or other entity asks for proof of filing, then it's a no-brainer.

I hope I'm making sense here.

Casey

Does anyone know if a UK musician can file a US copyright? We don't appear to have a comparable system here in the UK.

eightspace wrote:Does anyone know if a UK musician can file a US copyright? We don't appear to have a comparable system here in the UK.

I'm pretty sure they can. However, you should check with a music attorney in the UK as to what you need to do if you are concerned about copyright registration.

Casey