How to Copyright Songs

How to copyright songs is answered here, along with a definition of copyright and music copyright law.

Under international law, copyright is the automatic right of the creator of the work, this means that copyright exists as soon as you have a tangible version of the music, such as sheet music and/or recordings or CDs.

The issue is usually who wrote it first, not who write it. Once you establish you wrote it you also have to establish that the person who infringed had access to the song you created.

The crunch comes when you have to prove you created the work first. If you need to establish this in court, copyright is the best way to do that. Basically you want proof of when you created the song and exactly what the music and lyrics are to the song.

The strongest case is when you register the song before anyone else had a chance to see or hear it. Problem is if you write a lot of songs this can be expensive, especially if no one is picking up yo songs and creating a revenue stream.

When deciding how to copyright songs, some people mail a copy of the song to themselves and keep the letter unopened so they have an official postmark establishing the date. This is probably the weakest way (but cheapest) to establish proof, but better than nothing.

There are also organizations that will provide a registry to send a copy of your song to so it can be stored and dated in case you need to establish a creation date. This is a more secure way to protect yourself but not as good a registering the copyright.

In Canada, the Songwriters association of Canada provides this service as the Canadian Song Vault. You have to be a member, fill out a registration from and pay a fee.

You can register multiple songs at once. This makes it cheaper. You are depending on organizations such as these being around a long time to protect your filed copy of the your song.

Registering the copyright of your work makes it easier to be compensated in court if your copyright is infringed. Get the right forms for your country.

In the US contact the Library of Congress, Copyright Office Washington DC. They have a $45 nonrefundable fee. there's about a 4-5 month turnaround.

You should try to copyright albums and send your songs to the copyright office by certified mail and make sure you get a receipt so you know they got it.

Here is a list of all the various country's copyright offices in the world.

Only send in original music, don't use other peoples work. Send in a recording or sheet music etc. How to copyright songs is an important question to ask if you want to sell your songs.