www.ecmix.com - Tips & Tricks: Personal or "Poor Man's Copyright

TIPS: HOW TO PERSONALLY COPYRIGHT YOUR MUSIC CREATIONS

As you may already know, any creation falls under the Intellectual Property Rights Law and is observed all over the world. This law protects an individual's creations or inventions against any infringements. This law also applies to music creations in both lyrical and musical aspects of a song. There are several ways to protect your compositions, and one of which is to copyright it. This article will teach you how to personally copyright them, some music industry people call this procedure as "simple copyright" and for some "the poor man's copyright".

As you write your "would-be hits" it is imperative to protect it before making it public. The object of this procedure is to have a legal proof that you indeed wrote the song that you have created. In this way, if there would be any attempts to infringe your works, you'll have a strong stand before the courts by showing them a proof. Follow these simple steps to protect your compositions.

Prepare a copy of your song in audio cassette or CD, the lyric sheet and/or musical sheet, and a letter certifying that you are the composer of the song in subject in the CD and the sheets.
Place everything in an envelope and seal it.
In the sender's field of the envelope, write your complete name and address.
In the recipient's field of the envelope, write your complete name and address. Yes, this is correct. You will be sending yourself a package of your materials.
Go to your nearest post office and have it stamped and mailed via "Registered Mail". Prefer to use postal stamps and not metered machine stamps.
Wait for your package to arrive at the address you have indicated in the envelope.
When you receive your package, DO NOT OPEN it.
Keep the package in a secure place. Protect it from harmful substance like heat, moist or water.
That's it!

The package should only be opened when needed in court following any infringement claims that you may have in the future. What's most important with it is the postal stamp of date and place in the envelope. In whole, this will serve as your strong legal evidence that you in-fact own and created the songs contained in the CD and the sheets.

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