Introduction to Copyrighting
Copyrighting is simply protecting the work that you have done as an artist. This means that through a copyright, you will be the owner of the original work you have created.
In music you will be the rightful owner of the music you have created. Anyone who may need to use your work will have to get your official permission. You can file claims in a court of law in case anyone else tries to use your work without your permission.
As a music artist you will have control on how your music is used including ensuring no one can copy your work. This is helpful because there are people who might use your work to make money and you end up getting nothing or you get something unfair despite the fact that you were the original creator of the music.
Reasons You Need Music Copyright
1. The main reason you need a copyright as a music artist is to protect the music you have made. This is regardless of whether you are a rapper, a soul artist or any other type of musician. With your music protected you will know that you will be the one to decide how the music is to be used.
2. If a company uses your music in an advertisement you can file for claims since such company would have used your ideas. When you have copyright ownership, you need to give permission for anyone who needs to use your work.
How to Copyright Your Music
The process of copyrighting your music is simple and you can do it even at the comfort of your home.
In case you are doing it for the first time you can get assistance from people in the music industry such as your producer or fellow musicians. You can also seek the assistance of a copyright lawyer. The copies of your music should be clean and clear to make them admissible. You should then go to the official copyright website which is at copyright.gov.
After you get to the official website here are the steps to follow:
After getting into the official website you will be required to fill the application forms. These forms contain several pages of questions regarding yourself and your music. The first page of these forms requires that you create an account. You will be using this particular account to submit any other music you might make in the future. To create the account you just need to provide your personal details including names and address. You will get a username and password which you will be using to access the account. The other pages on the application forms contain questions which will show the kind of music you have done. You will need to select the categories you qualify for depending on the options provided.
Once you have filled the application forms you will then need to make the payments. The payments are accepted in form of ACH, credit cards and debit cards. There is a fixed fee for every song that is submitted for copyrighting. So you will pay depending on the number of songs you want to copyright.
After your application form has been reviewed and the payments have been accepted you will then have an opportunity to submit your supplement materials. You will see the formats that are accepted and as a result your music should be in one of the provided formats. You will just need to upload your music easily in the right format.
After uploading you will get immediate confirmation that your work has been received. This confirmation is just digital where you will have to wait for about six months to get the hard copies of the confirmation. Despite the time it takes to receive the hard copies, your intellectual properties which are your music will be protected from the moment you receive the digital confirmation.
Therefore, you can enjoy the various benefits of copyrighting your music by just following the outlined steps to copyright your music.
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