Copyrighting Lyrics - Topic

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Apr 13 2010 12:22am

Quote (PSPZorZ @ Apr 12 2010 07:21pm)

Well, in the past few years I guess things have changed. Doing some quick research it doesn't seem like mailing yourself the songs will really hold up in court. Illegal though? The way you say it it sounds like you're going to get arrested to mailing yourself your songs! LoL (:

I'm not sure the exact procedure to copyrighting the songs, but you can start to read up on the copyright.gov site. Having said that, I think you would want to copyright the recording as a whole (not just the lyrics), so make sure that whatever you do, you are placing a copyright on the song, as opposed to just the lyrics.

The song, or the instrumental, I guess you can say is already copyrighted. So, I'm more worried about the lyrics. I'll look into that site though for sure.

Thanks!

aokmaster15

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#12

Apr 13 2010 12:29pm

as far as i know instrumentals cannot be copyrighted unless it follows a direct melodic line that is sung as well.

PSPZorZ

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#13

Apr 13 2010 07:31pm

Quote (aokmaster15 @ Apr 13 2010 01:29pm)

as far as i know instrumentals cannot be copyrighted unless it follows a direct melodic line that is sung as well.

Quote (Lyricist @ Apr 13 2010 01:22am)

The song, or the instrumental, I guess you can say is already copyrighted. So, I'm more worried about the lyrics. I'll look into that site though for sure.

Thanks!

If you went through the process of copyrighting the instrumentals, why exactly wouldn't you have copyrighted the vocals as well? There's no use in just copyrighting the lyrics. The important part is the vocal melody. Having said that, even if you have the instrumentals copyrighted, you really ought to add the vocal track and copyright the entire piece.

@aok: I know instrumentals can be copyrighted, but there would have to be some pretty intricate instrumental work. (Wouldn't necessarily have to be sung, but you are right about having to follow a direct melodic line) Simple chord progressions and strumming patterns could not be copyrighted (due to obvious reasons). But I don't really know what he means by the song is "I guess you can say" copyrighted. I doubt it is truly copyrighted in any lawful sense.

This post was edited by PSPZorZ on Apr 13 2010 07:33pm

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