Coopyright for Digital Only Cd

[georgeinar]

I've released my last cd through cdbaby for digital distribution only this time, I can't afford to produce a physical cd yet, but it's available for downloads thru i-tunes etc. Question: I have to figure out how to register the copyright just the mp3 I guess. Has anyone done this before? I've copyrighted my previous works as physical cds which I mailed to the copyright office no problem, but I'm not sure how to go about doing this just for mp3 downloads. I'm asking because I have some songs that have gotten some interest in the professional world for commercials etc and I need to make sure my rights are protected. I don't have any sheet music or anything other than the original wav files as an original source document.

[billbaker]

When in doubt, go to the authoritative source. In this case www.copyright.gov will have the information you need for determining fees, submission requirements and acceptable formats for submissions.

I think that an audio recording copyright (as for your MP3) probably covers only that recording and not publishing or performance rights, for which a sheet music or notation submission is needed, as are lyrics if you want those protected. Sheet music can be fairly simple - lead line, lyrics and chords - up to full score. Midi and scoring software greatly simplify creating this, so if you have midi files you might want to look into creating a copyright ready score.

Generally speaking there's a fee for each submission, same for a single tune as for a portfolio, so if you have a bunch of stuff to submit it can be bundled to save you some money.

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Note that copyright services are in it for the money -- they will always charge more than you would pay doing it yourself, and some less than scrupulous "expediters" will even ask for a piece of any future royalties.

Read what you sign.


BB