how should i protect my music?

A

acetheface954

Active member
I make records every week and just can't afford to copyright each record after completion and then market it. So is there a way i can keep up with my creativity financially speaking?

EDIT: i know i can stockpile my sounds. but i need something faster than waiting on the library of congress to get back to me. an artist hits me up for a beat and before i can give it to them i need to copyright it or show ownership. true enough i'm no big time conglomerate, but its still something i need.
 
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Stockpile beats, and then when you get a decent amount together, upload them all at once. If you stagger your beat releases right, you'll still be able to put out content regularly without paying the filing fee every single time.
 
register your copyrights in a compilation of 10 beats at a time for the same fee

keep all your session files organized and backed up



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fataltone said:
register your copyrights in a compilation of 10 beats at a time for the same fee

keep all your session files organized and backed up


actually fellas i know i can stockpile my sounds. but i need something faster than waiting on the library of congress to get back to me. an artist hits me up for a beat and before i can give it to them i need to copyright it or show ownership. true enough i'm no big time conglomerate, but its still something i need.
Click to expand...
 
By registering copyrights on your work with the Copyright Office, you don't have to actually wait for the Library to process the application to publish your work safely. Registering just protects your interests down the road.

If you aren't going to pay the money to the USCO and register your work properly, you can at least register for free using an online copyright registry such as the one found at Beat Brokerz.

Here's the link: Copyright Your Beats
 
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This is a really good question I have been wondering about for a while now. When you get the answer, let me know...

I always wondered how those soundclick producers do it. Maybe they make a bunch of beats at once, then copyright them, and release them one a t a time while working on other ones??




SoundClick Page: SoundClick artist: Star Tanner Productions - I am a beat maker/ producer. I specialize in making rap, hip hop, pop, techno, and r&b instrumentals

Official Website: Beats For Sale | Buy Beats Online | Rap Beats | Hip Hop Beats
 
This is where you copyright your music:
U.S. Copyright Office

---------- Post added at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------

Try tagging your beats, placing a hidden "unhearable" watermark in your beats that only you can know about, and put it in all your beats so if you go to court you can be like, it's my beat because I have this "unhearable" watermark in my all instrumentals. You guys think I'm crazy but people like Johnny Juliano does that.
Also try using the poor man's copyright: snopes.com: Poor Man's Copyright (info in the link)

It may not work well in the U.S. but it's one of the best chances and forms of proof you have to use in the court without the copyright.

Also, if you copyright your beat, chances are, even if they try to copyright your beat, the gov will get to you faster than they do to the rappers. Just saying.
 
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Acetheface,

You don't have to wait on your certificate from the US Copyright Office. It's literally copyrighted once you completed the beat. The Copyright Office is a backup plan just in case something happens with your beats. And you'd want the certificate as proof if you ever end up in court. When you submit to register your beats to the Copyright Office they are protected at the time you make payment. Which means you don't have to wait for them to send you a certificate before your beats are protected. And like it was said earlier, submit them in bulk.
 
Kevin Carwile said:
By registering copyrights on your work with the Copyright Office, you don't have to actually wait for the Library to process the application to publish your work safely. Registering just protects your interests down the road.

If you aren't going to pay the money to the USCO and register your work properly, you can at least register for free using an online copyright registry such as the one found at Beat Brokerz.

Here's the link: Copyright Your Beats
Click to expand...


thanks man. this should help me out a lot. i have the money to pay the office and all but i'm not going to wait to make 10 tracks every single time. but how is this free? what do they do that is different from the real copyright office?
 
Copyright your music (nothing it 100% safe) but it's a good way of protecting yourself


 
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that "poormans copywrite" is a myth, you are better off coprwriting a bunch at once like 100 or so. but for the time being MAKE YOUR MONEY!!! if someone wants to buy, SELL IT, you can copywrite later because the truth of the matter is, unless they have a MAJOR Deal and they have albums charting in the Billboard top 200 regularly, its highly unlikely that said rapper will ever make any money off it in the time between you selling it and copywritting it some months later
 
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Great infor thatnks a lot. Do the songs have to be in cd palyer playable mode or just files on a mp3 disc like a mp3 disc?
Reason why I am asking is because I want to put over like 300 files on cd or a dual layer -DVD- disc and copyright them.
Whats the best way to send them in? As masters where each sound is in its on wav (which could take up a lot of space) or is just the waved out project fine? Is the looped files more for just selling with full rights?
And should or do I really need to have a tag in my beats especially before copyrighting them?
 
As someone with pretty extensive experience with actual music contracts and of a different opinion than most of the posters on this topic I'll chime in and say the least of your worries should be focused on copyright infringement if you're an up and coming producer.

It'd probably be the best thing in the world for you if someone steals your production and actually make money off of it without having a written agreement with the creator.

To my clients I recommend that they not worry about registering the copyright until their company has generated revenue.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, you own the copyright the moment that you create the work into a physical medium. Registering the copyright definitely grants you additional protection such as being compensated for lawyer fees by the infringing party, the presumption of guilt on the infringing party as well as higher guaranteed damages.

The reality of an infringement situation today is that there will more than likely be an extensive electronic trail (email) that would reveal ownership of the work.

You want to plan for the worst and nobody would say that you're wasting your money by copyrighting your work as early as possible because its definitely in your interest if you've got money and are willing to go further into the red and push back your day of first profit. I just choose advise toward being more bottom line based.

I know a few guys who have literally spent thousands copyrighting material that hasn't made them a penny back and I think it speaks toward a mismanagement of money due to fear of something that has such a small chance of happening.

A doomsday prepper analogy comes to mind when I advise on this subject.
 
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