subject: How To Copyright And Register Music [print this page] Many people confuse copyrighting music with the act of going to register music. There is a difference between the two; they are two different things. Basically, according to law in the United States and some other countries, once you have written or recorded your music in a permanent form, it is automatically copyrighted. However, in order to understand all of this you need to first of all understand what it means to copyright and to register music in the first place. A copyright is a certain legal protection that is offered to those who compose creative works, and these can be music, art, or written words. The Constitution of our country states that there are limits that a person can place on the amount of time that the work is protected exclusively.
If you copyright, not register music, this means that you and only you have the right to use the music and allow other people to use it. You also have the right to distribute copies of it as well. Whether those copies are written or sheet musics or recorded music, it includes the right to perform your music for the public, too. The Fair Use Doctring states that anyone can use your written or recorded music for the purpose of research, criticism, commentary or reporting. There are times when the use of copyrighted materials is appropriate without the consent of the person who holds that copyright.
However, this would show that in some cases copyrighting alone is not enough to protect your music without cutting through lots of red tape to do so. One of the things that you can do is to provide notice of copyright. You can do this by simply using the word Copyright, the date and your name at the bottom of the music. These can usually easily be added to the exterior of CDs, labels and cases and sometimes on the actual recording itself.
So where does the register music instance fit in to all of this? You have to have your copyrighted music registered if you want to be able to file a copyright infringement suit. It is a good idea to register your copyright music not only during the creation process but also before it could become an issue. It really is not a difficult process to register music, you just have to fill out an application, pay a filing fee and include a copy of the music you want to protect.
