Another Copyright Thread

[OldTimey]

But just a simple question...

How long does it usually take the Library of Congress to get to your application? I mailed in my new CD along with all the forms and the processing fee, but 8 weeks later, my check has still not been cashed.

Meanwhile my CD is all over the web, on iTunes etc...

Anyone have any experience with this?

[David Polich]

In my experience it has taken the Copyright Office anywhere from 6 to 15 months to register my copyrights and mail back the "proof" of documentation.

I wouldn't worry so much in your situation. Yes your CD is all over the web and the internet - and so are everyone else's. That's thousands of artists and hundreds of thousands of tracks.

Put it in perspective - if someone hears your tunes and decides to lift something from them, they will do so, and you most likely will never know about it unless they get signed, get a huge amount of promotion behind them, and their music appears on MTV and VH1 and in the top ten. And even then, it would cost you thousands to take them to court over copyright infringement, and the case wouldn't even get to court for months. Meanwhile they'd be selling their music and playing shows. Record label lawyers count on the fact that you can't cough up the 20 to 30 grand you'd need to sue someone for copyright infringement. Their response will always be, "go ahead and sue".

So what are the chances of the above scenario happening? Extremely small, next to zero. You're better off putting your money and energy into continued promotion of yourself and your music. The replies from the
Copyright Office will arrive in your mailbox sometime after you've given up hope of receiving them..

[James Steele]

But just a simple question...

How long does it usually take the Library of Congress to get to your application? I mailed in my new CD along with all the forms and the processing fee, but 8 weeks later, my check has still not been cashed.

Meanwhile my CD is all over the web, on iTunes etc...

Anyone have any experience with this?

Not sure if this applies, but one thing you want to be sure to do is if you send in a CD put it in a very strong rigid mailer. I'd go so far as to ship it in a small box and bubble wrap around the jewel case. Ever since 9/11, mail going to the copyright office apparently gets checked for anthrax and other potential hazards, and apparently the process can be pretty brutal on mail. Before I did this I got a notice back saying I'd have to send it again as it was damaged.

BTW, with iTunes did you use something like TuneCore or did you manage to apply to iTunes as your own label, and if so was it a hassle or difficult? If you want to reply privately that's fine. Any advice is appreciated.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I've had the scanner at the LOC melt CDs with radiation. Currently I am beta testing (I am allowed to say that) the LOC Digital Submission program. The last submission was a 30 minute full orchestral score in PDF format. It took about 2 minutes to submit and maybe 3 months to process. That is way faster than the usual method and no disks were melted (or otherwise hurt) in the process. The work can also be submitted the day it is created - within minutes of creation. Great for TV work that has to go out immediately.

Submission can also be done by MP3 files. Very cool program and $10 cheaper than the regular method. But to qualify you have to pass an aptitude test (really) and have sufficient copyright submissions to make it worth their while. You also cannot use Safari. Firefox works fine.

[James Steele]

Submission can also be done by MP3 files. Very cool program and $10 cheaper than the regular method. But to qualify you have to pass an aptitude test (really) and have sufficient copyright submissions to make it worth their while. You also cannot use Safari. Firefox works fine.

I'd sure like to be able to do that. I wonder how many it takes it to make it worth their while? Frankly, this ought to be the primary method and available to everybody. Seems to make much more sense.

[OldTimey]

Thanks for the replies, guys. David, I definitely agree with you. I don't care so much if my music is pirated or even lifted (ok i care if it is lifted for huge profit) because obscurity is worse than piracy in my book. That said, I wanted to hear about people's experiences with LOC.

[David Polich]

Thanks for the replies, guys. David, I definitely agree with you. I don't care so much if my music is pirated or even lifted (ok i care if it is lifted for huge profit) because obscurity is worse than piracy in my book. That said, I wanted to hear about people's experiences with LOC.

VERY good way of looking at it. Our viewpoints are the same on this subject.

James, I got my band's album up on i-Tunes via TuneCore (I also got it taken down via TuneCore when that band broke up). TuneCore is worth the money, they're a great service.They don't guarantee immediate posting on the online stores like i-Tunes, but in my case my album was up in about 35 days.

What I really dig about TuneCore is that they remove one more major label "block" aimed at independent artists - formerly, labels had to negotiate with Apple to get an album up. Now most anyone can do it. And, there's a certain nice feeling about being able to say, "my album is available on i-Tunes".