I always get in such trouble when I pimp her out, but I still think it is fun. 
For now she has one score published on her Sibelius site, along with an mp3 midi recording.
You don’t have to register or be a Sibelius user to hear the mp3, but as a guest you do have to install a free plugin for the sheet music to work.
She has many other scores finished that she can publish in a similar fashion, but we keep going around and around in conversation and research, trying to decide how she should best proceed with respect to protecting her music. At $45 per copyright registration, registering each piece will get quite pricey. Everything that we’ve read assures us that as soon as she writes it, she owns it, and a copyright doesn’t have to be registered until there is an infringement dispute. But…if you already have a registered copyright when an infringement takes place, a “broader range of remedies” (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ50.html#advantages) may be offered than would be possible without registration.
I’m growing to depise this quandry of wanting people (especially those in the music/film/TV/advertising industries) to be exposed to her work while trying not to expose it to the other variety of hack thiefs who suffer from a lack of ethics…the ones who would want to exploit her music without sharing at least some of the reaped rewards with her.
So what is the straight dope on copyright protection for the undiscovered musician in this brave new world of internet publishing?
I can’t listen right now, but I look forward to hearing it tonight.
She should pick up a copy of Samuel Adler’s Guide to Orchestration (http://www.amazon.com/Study-Orchestration-Third-Samuel-Adler/dp/039397572X) as it is a great primer on instrumental ranges, techniques and scoring in general. A great starting place.
She can go to my sound click site http://www.soundlick.com/dirkdgriffin and hear my compositions. I’ll gladly send her a pdf piano score for the preludes. She might also consider looking for opportunities which for $55 a year she can join the American Copmposer’s Forum (https://www.composersforum.org/join.cfm?CFID=1900029&CFTOKEN=96738518) and have a never ending supply of people looking for new scores – most without need for any kind of payment.
I’m a Finale guy myself, but Sibelius is an impressive tool.
Best of luck.
Registration gives you very little:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#cr
So if you spend thousands of dollars to go to court you can get some of them back. If you win. After all the appearances and appeals.
[One technical point: you cannot register after an infringement. That gets you nothing.]
And for what? Who is going to infringe your wife’s scores? Why would you go to court over it?
If your wife is such an important musician that she is vulnerable then most certainly register. You should inquire to see if you can do a group registration once every quarter. That used to be allowed, and made things much cheaper. I don’t see it on that page, but call information at the Copyright Office.
Still, copyright cases almost never go to court because it is just too expensive for anyone but major corporations to do so. Ordinary copyright protection is a fine tool for the rest of us.
The only way we’d be aware of an infringement would be if we heard something or saw the sheet music somewhere other than on her site, with attribution to another individual.
The only reason we’d ever consider going to court would be if whoever infringed was profiting from the infringement to such a degree that any court costs would be worth the compensation.
The chances of both happening are slim to none. We just want to make sure we’re being as protective as possible without undue expense. The hard part to swallow at the moment is that if someone swipes it and passes it of as their own and makes $5, that would still be $5 more than what she’s making with it right now. Setting up a store through Sibelius might change that, and we will probably be spending money on the monthly store fees instead of copyright registrations.
Say, your wife’s piece is pretty good! It starts simply, but I like the way it builds. Nice job.
And it’s an interesting website, too. Check this out for a really cool interpretation of Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca (download the MP3)!