Lawyers, Guns and Money: May 2010

Monday, May 17, 2010

I Am The Innocent Bystander

As unfortunate as it is, unless you're strumming away in your bedroom or to some friends at a barbeque music is,as mentioned in another blog entry, a business.

When the term 'business' is mentioned to most independent musicians the inevitable responses are either one of apathy or one of panic. Having worked as a professional musician since 1983, represented myself in court with and without a lawyer on copyright matters I can safely say that responses of apathy or panic are not appropriate.

This brief introductory entry blog entry shall cover the most basic, easiest and legally airtight globally accepted way of copyrighting both recorded material and songwriting credits.

If you have written a song that you wish to record or wish your band record, print out the song title, lyrics, and chords to the song. Include at the bottom the days date, your own name (printed) with your signature and date of of birth. If the song has been co-written it is imperative that the co-writer is present when this occurs.

The next step is to take your lyric sheet as outlined above (please ensure that any co-writer is present) to your Post Office. Explain to the Postmaster your purpose and that it is imperative that the postmark is clearly visible. Place the document into the envelope. On sealing the envelope, place your signature over the sealed area and place clear tape over this area. By doing this, any attempted tampering will be clearly evident.

In the case of solo or band recordings, follow the above steps.....including your clearly marked audio format. Ensure all people involved in this process have signed the relevant document as outlined above and are present at the Post Office. Ensure their signatures are also present on the sealing area of the envelope. Any member who 'can't be bothered' accompanying you to the Post Office fully negates his/her content within the envelope and thus any possible royalties that may ensue. (It may be worth pointing them to this entry).

Once all of the aforementioned material is signed and sealed, guess what happens next? Yup! It has to be delivered. This can be a tricky one. In my case I'm fortunate in that I have a lawyer & Justice Of The Peace who are personal friends, otherwise it would cost....and I'm attempting to avoid you spending money. At this point I suggest a trusted friend who is not in the music industry and ideally geographically distant.

The intent of this introductory post is to hopefully spurn my fellow independent musicians into getting their existing catalogue of material fully and legally copyrighted.

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