Re: Copyrighting Improvised Music

[Matt Davignon <mattdavignon@gmail.com>]

Hey Gmail, 

This site explains it pretty easily: 
http://www.wikihow.com/Copyright-a-Song

Registering the copyright doesn't in itself give you the copyright to the song. That's yours as soon as you create it. However, it does help a great deal when it comes to proving that someone has violated your copyright. You don't need a score to register - you can do so with a recording. So, being an improviser doesn't mean you can't copyright. 

There are also alternative copyrights known as "Creative Commons", which allow some uses but not others. (For example, saying it's ok to use your music in a film as long as they give you credit.) These don't have a registration process at all. You just put the desired CC notice on your work. More information here: http://creativecommons.org/

There are multiple levels of intellectual property use that copyright allegedly protects you from. I say allegedly because many of these things do happen to artists, legal or not. Registering your copyright is one thing - pursuing legal action against violators would be another. 

Anyway, here's a bunch of different levels of copyright violation: 
1) Someone could release recordings of your music under a different band name, on a different record label. 
2) Someone could release recordings of your own music with your name without your permission, keep all the money from it. (Invisible Records famously did this with Psychic TV recently.)
3) Someone could use your music for a film or dance performance. (I found out last year that I was credited as a composer for a dance performance in NYC, and when I emailed the organization to find out what was up, they didn't respond.)
4) Someone could remix your music, giving you credit for the song and themselves credit for the mix.
5) Someone could sample your music and make something really creative and different with it. 
6) Someone could sample your music in a completely unoriginal way that feels like a rip off. (Think "Ice Ice Baby".)
7) Someone might sample your music into a song, with lyrics that you'd find objectionable.
--Sampling might be credited or not credited. (In my experience, only a few artists list their samples, out of fear of being sued. Many major label acts list their samples, but they also pay the licensing fees for them.)


-- 
Matt Davignon
mattdavignon@gmail.com
www.ribosomemusic.com
Podcast! http://ribosomematt.podomatic.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 8:46 PM, Gmail <k3zz21@gmail.com> wrote:

I've always, for one, wondered how the process of copyrighting your music goes. But I also wonder is it worth copyrighting something totally improvised?