copyrighting a beat

D

dzee

Guest
please do not answer 'no' to the following question: is there any way to copyright a beat with an uncleared sample in it? the reason i ask is that i will be meeting an up-and-coming ny artist soon and i want to slide him some beats i've done. all my beats are sample-based, but i want to figure out a way to protect myself from getting jacked. i know if my stuff isn't copyrighted, then nothing really prevents someone from claiming my beat as theirs (i'm not assuming this artist is shady, but i know one beat can pass through many unknown hands). i'm open to clearing the sample later if his label wants to front the scrill, but i cannot afford to do that independently as of yet and need some way of protecting myself in the meantime. please, someone help me out.
 
well your biggest problem is the fact, that you have broken copywrite law , by using someone els's recorded material, well technically not untill you make financial gain on the beats.
Funny someone so willing to protect there stuff is so willing to just rip other peoples stuff.

To stop people using your stuff tag your beats, its been said heaps of times in the getting started forum, its really the only way, make the beats about 30 to 60 seconds long and tag em, if they like the beat they will contact you for the proper version, and the tag is also promotion and contact info for people to get back at you to use your beats.
 
the issue i have with tagging beats is that considering i will be handing the beat off to someone who gets handed lots of beats, i want him to hear it without annoying **** on top of it b/c how are you supposed to write to something when every bar has 'this is ___ productions. get at me!'. now you're right, i am breaking copyright law IF i make financial gain off it, but my thinking was that if the artist likes it he should be able to get his label to clear this very obscure sample (or they can take the risk of not clearing it if they want. my intention is to copyright the beat as intellectual property in the sense that yes, i used a sample to make the beat, but it was my idea to chop it up the way i did. is the process for this identical to copyrighting purely original music?
 
nah with clearing samples you have to get permission from the record company that owns the rights to the recorded material, and also the rights from the person who owns the song, Then you pay for what you have used.

I understand what you mean with tagging beats but its the only way. If you got someone that allready likes the beats and wants to put stuff down on them then just give him the beat and take the risk, because if he likes it enough there will be no way he will want to hand it out to any other rapper, he will want to be the first to bring out the track. you just have to take the risk.
You can get enough evidence with out having to copywrite the beat, copywrite just gives you the absolute power.

oh yeah,, go get yourself down with ascap ( usa ) apra ( australia ) you can register tracks there gives you more power and evidence that the tracks yours. and also join for the reasons ascap is around in the first place.
 
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bobsmitt said:
even if you tag a beat someone could still jack it
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Not if u tag the whole beat at least every 8 bars, and by the way isn't it the artist's responsibility to clear the sample?
 
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Legally, you can't register a copyright that incorporates someone else's copyright without their permission. Practically speaking, the copyright office doesn't verify the information, it just cashes the check and processes the paperwork, and unless you start making a lot of money off the song, no one is going to waste their time or money going after you. If you do make enough money on a song with uncleared samples, they will, and if you're lucky, you can settle before trial after giving up 100% of your publishing and probably a cut of the sound recording royalties.

Even if you register your copyright, there's nothing stopping someone from jacking your beat. That's like saying getting car insurance will prevent you from getting in an accident.
This sums up my experiences:

http://www.cleverjoe.com/articles/music_publishing_copyright.html
Do songs get ripped off? Yes. Does it happen a lot? No, not as often as people seem to think. When it does happen it's usually after you've had that huge #1 smash, and everybody's humming your tune (and certain types of people figure the song's made a lot of money and therefore target you in some bogus 'easy money' lawsuit, claiming you ripped them off. Certainly if you release an album, or have a song that looks like it's going to be on the radio --or maybe the Internet -- then take the maximum protection approach and register your songs with the copyright office.)

The fact of the matter is, if you're gonna try and 'make it' in this business you have to get out there and get your songs heard by people. A lot of people. So, bite the bullet. Keep all your worktapes and lyric sheets (along with dates of creation) on file,play your songs for a few witnesses, maybe even register a few in Washington, but then forget about it! If you let the fear of being ripped off rule your creative life you'll never make it out of the basement. Take a few appropriate steps to protect yourself, then get out there in the world, play your songs, and see what happens. Otherwise, you'll never know what future greatness you could be depriving the world of!
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