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Guys and Gals:
We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains a lot of
originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to "protect" the songs
I've written?
Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to it? They are
not "published" - do I need to do this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Boulder Bob
The Beloved Invaders
Bob:
Copyright those tunes!
Check out the Library of Congress site for easy info:
US Copyright office (in LOC):
Got your own publishing company? Cheeck out BMI:
You can simply submit a copy (CD) of the work you plan to
publish to the Copyright Office of the Library of
Congress...once they recieve a copy of your work, there is
a traceable record of your copyright claim and copyright
date. Once you create a copy of any work, it is considered
"published".
BMI is a cool organisation to help you collect any
publishing royalties if your tune ends up selling well or
garnering airplay.
well there are the shoe-string basics...
good luck,
dp
--- Bob Cannistraro <> wrote:
> Guys and Gals:
>
> We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains a
> lot of
> originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to
> "protect" the songs
> I've written?
>
> Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to
> it? They are
> not "published" - do I need to do this?
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Boulder Bob
> The Beloved Invaders
>
>
>
>
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Bob:
a really cool Q & A page re: copyrights:
form "PA" from the Copyright Office:
good luck,
-dp
--- DP <> wrote:
> Bob:
>
> Copyright those tunes!
>
> Check out the Library of Congress site for easy info:
>
>
> US Copyright office (in LOC):
>
>
> Got your own publishing company? Cheeck out BMI:
>
>
> You can simply submit a copy (CD) of the work you plan to
> publish to the Copyright Office of the Library of
> Congress...once they recieve a copy of your work, there
> is
> a traceable record of your copyright claim and copyright
> date. Once you create a copy of any work, it is
> considered
> "published".
>
> BMI is a cool organisation to help you collect any
> publishing royalties if your tune ends up selling well or
> garnering airplay.
>
> well there are the shoe-string basics...
>
> good luck,
> dp
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Bob Cannistraro <> wrote:
>
> > Guys and Gals:
> >
> > We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains
> a
> > lot of
> > originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to
> > "protect" the songs
> > I've written?
> >
> > Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to
> > it? They are
> > not "published" - do I need to do this?
> >
> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Boulder Bob
> > The Beloved Invaders
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> > --------------------~-->
> > Has someone you know been affected by illness or
> disease?
> > Network for Good is THE place to support health
> awareness
> > efforts!
> >
>
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
> >
> >
> > .
> > Visit for
> > archived messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
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> Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing and more.
> Check it out!
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>
>
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> Good!
>
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> .
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Although, we do real estate law in our office, I can't tell you how
many times we've looked stuff up with great results in those NOLO
books. You know the ones that you find in almost any good bookstore
like "How to Do Your Own California Divorce."
These books are methodically researched, give good advice for basic
situations in understandable plain english, and best of all- tell you
when you really need to go get a lawyer and when you don't.
I went on their website a few minutes ago, they've got one book called
the Copyright Handbook for $29 and one called Music Law for the same.
These can be downloaded as ebooks. That's where I'd go.
How good is this stuff?
Most of the folks in our firm use their exclusive Quicken software to
to their wills and living trusts.
--- In , "Bob Cannistraro"
<cannistraro@e...> wrote:
> Guys and Gals:
>
> We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains a lot of
> originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to "protect" the
songs
> I've written?
>
> Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to it? They are
> not "published" - do I need to do this?
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Boulder Bob
> The Beloved Invaders
I would concur with stratrhythm's assessment: the NOLO
PRESS books are great...I used one for guardianship of my
step-daughter...good books, very handy, complete, thorough.
If I were a newbie to copyright law, it would be a wise
investment to get the book.
good luck,
-dp
--- stratrhythm <> wrote:
> Although, we do real estate law in our office, I can't
> tell you how
> many times we've looked stuff up with great results in
> those NOLO
> books. You know the ones that you find in almost any good
> bookstore
> like "How to Do Your Own California Divorce."
>
> These books are methodically researched, give good advice
> for basic
> situations in understandable plain english, and best of
> all- tell you
> when you really need to go get a lawyer and when you
> don't.
>
> I went on their website a few minutes ago, they've got
> one book called
> the Copyright Handbook for $29 and one called Music Law
> for the same.
> These can be downloaded as ebooks. That's where I'd go.
>
> How good is this stuff?
>
> Most of the folks in our firm use their exclusive Quicken
> software to
> to their wills and living trusts.
>
>
>
> --- In , "Bob Cannistraro"
> <cannistraro@e...> wrote:
> > Guys and Gals:
> >
> > We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains
> a lot of
> > originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to
> "protect" the
> songs
> > I've written?
> >
> > Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to
> it? They are
> > not "published" - do I need to do this?
> >
> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Boulder Bob
> > The Beloved Invaders
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> --------------------~-->
> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers.
> At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide!
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>
> .
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> archived messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
__________________________________
Discover Yahoo!
Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing and more. Check it out!
Technically, the songs are copyrwriten (sp?) the moment you write it.
The trick is proving it. I would contact BMI, ASCAP or SESAC (whatever
the 3rd one is) to get them registered. The paperwork asks for the
Publisher/owner. Obviously this needs to be you, and different for each
song writer or combo of songwriters.
Depending on how tight nit your band is may determine the song writing
/ publishing info. Because should you get big, only the people who's
names appear get paid. Failure to understand this has caused much
strife in bands over the years when the Singer and guitar player who
'wrote' the songs get big royalties and the drummer or whoever wonders
where his are.
In the Penetrators, different folks may come in with a song idea but
all of us wind up contributing to the final sound so we always give
equal credit.
I've slammed BMI often over the years but when our songs were included
in MTV's "The Real World," BMI actually sent us checks.
I used to have a book called "What every Musician needs to know about
the Music Biz" or something like that which was very informative and
goes in to all these things. I lost it years ago however.
Hope that helps,
Spanky
On Jun 8, 2005, at 12:00 PM, Bob Cannistraro wrote:
> Guys and Gals:
>
> We are very close to releasing a new CD and it contains a lot of
> originals - what's the easiest and/or best way to "protect" the songs
> I've written?
>
> Is doing a copyright the way to go or is there more to it? They are
> not "published" - do I need to do this?
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Boulder Bob
> The Beloved Invaders
>
>
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Thank you all for your helpful responses
Bob
