B. Thomas Cooper
Editor
For some inexplicable reason, many musicians are anxious about copyrighting their musical compositions. Anxiety is fear of the unknown, and indeed, it's amazing how little the average musician knows about the subject. Here's the low-down, my friends it's really not that scary.
Copyright forms can be obtained free of charge from the US Copyright Office, located in the Library of Congress. Needless to say, but I will anyway, they also have a website, and the last I knew the forms could be downloaded for free. You don't need to write out the notes or any of that tedious stuff. That went out way back in the seventies. Now all you do is fill out a simple form identifying the song and the composer(s), place a cd of the song into an envelope along with the form, and mail it to the Copyright Office. Oh, and there is a nominal application fee of $45.00 (payable to the copyright office), but don't let that stop you. It's worthy every penny.
Now I know none of you really want to hear this, but I strongly suggest you not rely on the so-called poor man's copyright', as it turns out to be more folklore than fact. Having worked on the inside of the industry for many years, I am not aware of a single example of where a poor man's copyright held up in a court of law. It is generally just a myth. Furthermore, I doubt very seriously you are so poor you can't afford a few bucks to protect your writing.
Send your package to:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
Here is the website address for the US Copyright Office:
http://www.copyright.gov/
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