Using copyright to protect your music
If you want to get published, or even if you self publish your work, you will be sending copies to your agents, record companies, or other individuals. Can you trust those who get hold of your work to respect your rights, or will you discover one day that your music is being passed off as someone else’s work, while you miss out on the royalties.
Having seen my own work turn up in the hands of plagiarists who have claimed it as their own, I now take copyright very seriously, and would urge anyone to follow these simple steps.
- Place copyright notices on all your work.
Actually, copyright exists even if you don’t place a notice on your work, but by placing copyright notices on your work you make it clear that you are aware of your rights and you take copyright seriously. It also stops the person copying your work from saying they ‘didn’t realise’ they were doing anything wrong.
It’s pretty simple really, just a statement like ‘Copyright © 2006 John Doe. All rights reserved’ placed on the CD and the inlay card/cover. - Register your work
A registration with the UK Copyright Service (UKCS) will ensure that you have proper evidence in case you ever need to prove your claim in a court or tribunal. As copyright is an international right, the UKCS registration will also protect your work overseas.
If you register your work with the UK Copyright Service, they will also provide you with logos or labels that you can place on your CDs to deter unauthorised copying. - Band agreements
If you write music as a band, you need to plan for the day when you will be earning royalties from your songs, and be clear what will happen if a member of the band leaves or if the band splits up.
The best way to deal with this is to all agree what is fair, and then put this in writing as a formal agreement which you all sign. This way there is little chance of any comeback if the band splits for less than amicable reasons.A simple search on Google for ‘band member agreements’ should provide you with a number of sites offering advice and example contracts that you can use.
Copyright © 2006 Andy Whitehead. This article may be reprinted freely, provided this copyright notice is included, and all information remains intact. For further information, please email the author.
Tags: band agreements, copyright notices, music, music protection, publishing music, songwriting
