Korg Forums

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.

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.

--------

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