Issues concerning copyright may be confusing for somebody that doesn’t
understand it or anybody that hasn’t read copyright law.
You don’t really need to visit the copyright office to copyright your song if you don’t want to, because according to copyright law; the moment you put your song in tangible real form (recorded or written) you get the following exclusive rights:
The right to reproduce and make copies of an original work;
The right to prepare derivative works based on the original work;
The right to distribute copies to the public by sale or another form of transfer, such as rental or lending;
The right to publicly perform the work;
The right to publicly display the work, and
The right to perform sound recordings publicly through digital audio transmission.
To safeguard your music against illegal use it is wise to register your work in order to have evidence that you own the copyright. This can help you pursue any copyright infringement matters that may arise.
Why it is important to register your song with the copyright office.
Going about uploading your music without registering it may not be entirely a good move,
this is why I wish to discuss why it is important to have your song registered.
It is recommended that you register your works with the copyright office in
order for you to have “prima facie” evidence that you were actually the first
person to create the song.
Prima Facie is a legal term which means that the other side bears
the burden of proof to prove that the work is not indeed yours.
How to register your copyright
The first method is you basically going to www.copyright.gov and registering.
Their website works fine but it has been known to not be very user friendly.
You can also use other services online to copyright your music but be aware
that most of these services will charge a fee.
PRO
You can also register your music with a PRO, which is a performing rights
organisation.
A performing rights organisation sometimes referred to as a performing
rights society provides intermediary functions, royalty collection, between
copyright holders and parties who wish to use the copyrighted works.
A PRO is great if you intend to protect your music, you can simply register
your works before uploading.
Performing Rights Organisations in the US
Ascap
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a non
profit PRO protects its members musical copyrights by monitoring public
performances of their music whether a broadcast or live performance and
thereby compensating them.
Ascap collects licensing fees and then permits royalties accordingly.
It is available for people in the US and some other select countries outside the US.
BMI
Broadcast Music Inc is a US based performing rights organization.
BMI collects licensing fees from businesses that use its members music.
Many of the members of BMI create a variety of music of every genre and it
represents some of the most famous musicians in the world like
Lil Wayne, Blueface, Birdman, Lady Gaga, Taylor
Swift, Eminem, Rihanna, Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Sam Cooke, Willie Nelson,
Fats Domino and Dolly Parton; bands as diverse as Maroon 5, Evanescence, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nickelback, Linkin Park, Twenty One Pilots and Fifth Harmony.
Sound exchange
Sound exchange is a non profit collective rights organization based in the US
and designated by the US Congress to collect and distribute digital
performance royalties for sound recordings.
Content ID
Another way to make sure that your music is protected is by using content ID
management.
It works as a PRO for YouTube.
there are a lot of content ID companies out there, but I recommend Identifyy.
Conclusion
Copyrighting your music before uploading it to YouTube is not a
requirement,
But if you wish to register your work and have tangible evidence (besides
having the masters) that you own the song, you can go ahead and get your
work copyrighted by going to a copyright office or simply going to
www.copyright.gov if you’re in the US.
It is also wise to register with a PRO like BMI or ASCAP so that they can collect
licensing revenue on your behalf.
Furthermore, you can sign up with a content ID management company that
can act as a PRO for your YouTube and collect revenue from people using
your original work for their monetized content.
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