One of the finest aspects of remaining independent is
definitely maintaining control of your music; after all, it is YOUR
intellectual property. Hence, music copyright, please.
When you copyright your music, you have complete control
over how it is used and distributed by others. Furthermore, when your music is
used by others, you could also be paid copyright royalties, which might
could result in financial gain.
You should also know that copyright is territorial, meaning that your copyrighted work is not protected in other countries. However, the Berne Convention is a Treaty that protects your work from copyright infringement in other countries that are parties to the Berne Convention.
Check out our step-by-step tutorial below for all the steps
you may do to secure your music if you are an artist who is publishing your own
music.
However, before we get into how to copyright a song, we
first need to ask...
Do you need to copyright your music?
Contrary to belief, music copyright is not as complex as you
might have been led to believe.
However, copyrighting your song is a crucial step for
protecting your music against copying and theft, even though the specifics
differ from one country to another.
You only have to look at some of the industry’s biggest
copyright dispute cases to prove the fact – Robin Thicke & Pharell Williams
v. Marvin Gaye; Vanilla Ice vs. Queen. As well as more recent battles between
the likes of Lana Del Rey and Coldplay, to name a few.
So what lesson can we learn from all of these big names?
That no matter where you are in your music career -
copyrighting your music gives you the exclusive rights to:
- Distribute your music in all formats, both physical and
digital
- Create derivative works or samples based on your music;
and
- Perform your music live.
Copyrighting music in Nigeria
In Nigeria, the Copyright Act 2003 governs copyright, and
the body charged with the enforcement and protection of copyright is the
Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).
You can register a copyright with the NCC by submitting a
completed registration form, along with two copies of the work, and evidence of
payment of ₦10,000.
Registration can be done online or physically at the NCC office. Visit the NCC
website for further instructions.
Early registration is highly recommended. If you register
before your music is stolen or misused, you can be granted a large pay-out –
anything up to ₦50,000,000
per infringement, plus legal fees.
Therefore, if you are based in Nigeria, copyrighting your
music by a more official means will give you that added layer of protection,
if, or when, you ever find yourself in the middle of a copyright dispute.
Copyrighting music in the UK
In fact, in the simplest legal terms, copyright exists in the UK the minute you produce a physical form of your music – that is anything from a scribbled down lyric on the back of a napkin, to a sound recording of the bridge on your old Nokia brick.
Copyrighting music in the USA
In the US, there is a more official copyrighting process to
be aware of.
This involves registering your songs and music with the US Copyright Office (USCO) and for US artists, this has definite benefits in terms of increasing your advantage, protection & power, when it comes to making money from your music catalogue.
What types of music can be copyrighted?
When it comes to music, it can often be difficult to define
what can and what cannot be copyrighted. So here’s what is eligible and what
isn’t.
Eligible for copyright:
- Literary works like Song lyrics;
- Musical works or compositions;
- Artistic works;
- Cinematograph works;
- Sound recording; and
- Broadcasts.
- Completed works (eg. songs, jingles, incidental music,
symphonic pieces)
Not eligible for copyright:
- Song titles
- Chord progressions
- Incomplete or unfinished works
- You cannot have copyright protection over something in
your head, which has not been expressed (in written or any recorded format)
Originality and expression are the key pillars for eligibility.
If the conditions are suitable, you can even trademark the
name of your artist. That, however, is an entirely different scenario.
Now we know all the ins and outs of what copyright is, how
it differs between lands and what is up for grabs, here are the 5 steps you
need to start copyrighting your music today!
How to copyright your music in 5 steps
1. Make a physical copy
First thing first, write down or make a recording of your
music.
How to copyright a song - make a physical copy
Sounds obvious, we know.
But the truth is, putting pen to paper or sound to recording
is the first official step for claiming your music copyright – whether that’s
for a song, a symphony or a jingle.
This can be as simple as writing down your song's lyrics on
paper, noting the melody in a manuscript, or recording your voice or other
instruments using a digital device.
Whatever method you choose is up to you – so long as it is
possible to reproduce the song that you have ‘fixed’ into existence through
some sort of tangible format.
Why?
Well, as we previously discussed, your song may technically
and legally be protected by copyright as soon as you physically record it.
Which sounds simple, right?
I suppose it was a little too simple.
There are a few additional steps you may do to give the
ownership of your music a little more substance, even if it is true that some
copyright protection exists from this point on (so you could theoretically stop
here if you chose).
2. Create timely evidence for your case
Copyright is a time-related issue.
Although you can claim that copyright exists as soon as a
song or piece of music is written down, showing when the tangible copy was made
is more challenging.
This is crucial if there are ever any disagreements about
the "originality" or "authorship" of your work. In the
event that a legal dispute arose, you would be forced to present proof that
your song was the original, or show a "time-stamped copy,"
before anyone else copied it.
How to copyright a song - get timely proof
You can go about getting this proof…a few different ways:
One way is to simply upload a digital recording of your
music or sheet music to an online platform like YouTube, SoundCloud or
Facebook, send the files to yourself in an email, or back it up to a cloud drive
like One drive or Google drive. The online platforms will show the date and
time of the upload, and similarly, your email will be dated with when the
attached audio was sent and the same applies to cloud backups.
Another way is to deposit a written or recorded copy of the
song to a responsible person – such as an attorney or music lawyer - and obtain
a dated receipt for the deposit.
But probably the most historically well-known method –
what’s known as ‘poor man’s copyright’ (ouch) – is posting yourself a copy of
the recording/manuscript by special delivery and storing it, sealed, in a
secure place until a time when it’s needed for proof.
While this method may sound outdated (and arguably it is),
in the UK this is still the recommended method by which to secure copyright.
This might float for any of you Brits, but in Nigeria, poor
man’s copyright no longer makes the cut.
Instead, you will have to register the copyright for your
song through a more formalized registration process.
3. File the right forms
Now you have a time-stamped copy of your tune, it is time to
dive a bit deeper into the complex landscape of copyright.
How to copyright a song - file the paperwork
Every piece of recorded music has two sides:
- The publishing copyright (written composition)
- The master copyright (sound recording)
The industry treats these two parts of copyright separately,
even in cases where the writer and performer are the same person. But the
separate treatment helps avoid any potential legal issues.
When registering your song with the NCC, there are eleven
sections to complete the form, you need to know more about this at the help page of the
NCC.
How to copyright a song
Fill out and submit an electronic application on the NCC website.
Payment is done via remita.
In addition, what about the money?
There is a small filing fee for registering your songs via
USCO. You can find out more information on the associated costs from the fees
section of their website.
However, here is the good news.
If you are copyrighting your own music, you can submit more
than one song under one application for only one application fee!
This is ideal if you are copyrighting an entire album or EP
and it will save you a tonne of money and paperwork rather than registering
each song separately.
And yes while it might suck a little to dish out money for
proving ownership to what’s already rightfully yours, this small fee is worth
it a hundred times over if you were ever to go to federal high court over your
music.
4. Divide the splits
How the money is divided up between the publishing and
masters is very much down to how the actual song is being used.
While you – the recording artist - will reap the rewards
from mechanical royalties, if it is a physical sale, such as a CD or vinyl,
then the industry standard split is 91% to the master and around 9% to the
publishing.
For music sync, it is usually a 50/50 split between
publishing and masters, making music synchronize another great avenue for new
artists to explore.
How to copyright a song - split the earnings
Do not forget - if you are a solo artist, you will own all
of the copyright. However, if you are in a band or there are multiple
songwriters or co-writers, then you will need to include this in the paperwork,
to make sure different portions of the copyright are fairly distributed.
5. Start earning money from copyright royalties
Therefore, we have established copyright is great – it gives
you full ownership rights to your music and prevents any mean people from
stealing or copying your work. In addition, it requires you to give YOUR
permission for others to record, distribute, sample or perform your song.
Nice.
However, copyrighting your music also opens you up to
another potential revenue stream - via copyright royalty pay-outs - every time
someone wants to perform or use your work.
How to copyright a song - make money from royalties
What is that? Another revenue stream for artists? Music to
our ears.
Just make sure you are signed up with the right music
collection society so you are being owed all the copyright royalties yo are
due.
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