How do you copyright music? A friend of mine is writing and preforming music and I’m wondering how he would go about copyrighting his music.
Once it’s in a tangible form (recorded or written as sheet music) it is essentially automatically copyrighted. To register the copyright (which makes it more iron clad in the eyes of the law) go to the website of United States Copyright Office and click on "How to Register a Work – Sound Recordings.
It’s a little easier these days because now you can send in recordings (it used to be just sheet music).
Oh, I forgot to cover some of the big bases:
If you are in Canada, you’d register it through CIPO, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
In the UK there’s no formal system for registering copyright, but you can contact: The British Library Copyright Office or visit the British Music RightsWeb site for more info.
There is no formal registration process in Australia, but you can the contact:Australian Copyright Council for more info.
Depends what country you’re in, Meatros. Assuming you’re in the US, then what Eats_Crayons said is a correct (albeit brief- no offence Meatros!:D) explanation.
Thanks all! This is more than helpful!! 