Copyrighting your Music

You’re going to spend an unbelievable amount of your time creating your art, and all that creativeness belongs to you.

It will be tough once you realize some other person has copied something so close to you, but thankfully there are ways to make sure your creations don’t end up belonging to someone else.

If you want to gain all of the protections of the copyright law, you need to copyright your music. Fortunately, this is a straightforward thing to do. Music is automatically copyrighted from the moment you create it in a tangible medium, like on paper or audio recording.

 

Here are the steps you must follow to copyright your music:

– Create an original song or remix

– Record or put your song down on paper

– Fill out the paperwork and submit your work to the U.S. Copyright Office

– Wait for confirmation of copyright

 

Create an original song or remix

To have something to copyright, you need to create something unique. You can also apply to copyright a new version of a song that already exists. This song may be a dance remix or an acoustic cover of a hard rock song.

 

Record or put your song down on paper

To copyright a piece of music, you must be able to show it or play it for someone. You must make it playable or readable in some manner to claim it as your own.

 

Fill out the paperwork and submit your work to the U.S. Copyright Office.

You can find out more about what formats are accepted and how many copies the government requires you to send when submitting your songs through the U.S. Copyright Office’s website. You can even submit your copyright online much more quickly and easily.

 

Wait for confirmation of copyright

If you submit your application for music copyright electronically, it might take up to 6 months for everything to be approved. If you decide to send your music via mail, you may be forced to wait twice as long.