ION INDIE MAGAZINE July 2016, Volume 26 | Page 76

SONGWRITING SERIES: REGISTRATIONS By Paul Bordenkircher • www.mesasand.com Let’s start this column with a story, and a question. Let’s say you’ve got an idea for the Next Big Thing-something like an automated robot that can do all your household chores, handle all your finances, and find the cure for major diseases in its spare time. And you can make it out of parts from a laptop and your toaster. You’d probably become a multi-billionaire practically overnight. But I’ll bet every one of you reading this had one thought go through your head…. “But what if somebody steals my idea?” An idea for an invention or a business is literally no different than an idea for a song. It’s known as intellectual property--an idea, a concept, or an expression with no tangible thing to hide away in a closet so nobody else sees it. Once it’s out there, you can’t take it back. How do you protect your invention - or in our case, your song - from others claiming it for themselves. While there’s no absolute way to establish ownership of an idea, there are things you can do. I refer to it as building layers of proof--any documentable evidence to show the creation, development or completion of your idea. And one of the main ways of protecting your rights is through copyright registrations. Registrations is essentially the cornerstone of music publishing – it helps protect the rights of your catalog. It’s one of the key functions of a publisher--Promote, Protect and Collect. As many places you can officially register your works, the more likely you would prevail in any kind of infringement case. There are several different places to register and protect the songs, partly dependent on your region and even style of music. Here’s the most important ones.  PROs. Remember the last entry? This is what registering your publishing company was all about. Besides giving every radio, TV and internet station permission to play your music, it logs your songs for airplay royalties--in other words, making sure you get paid when your songs are played.  Copyright Office. Also covered in the last installment. The US Copyright Office offers another level of protection for your songs. And you know that warning at the beginning of home movies threatening a $250,000 fine? You only get that money if your works are registered in the Copyright Office. By the way, their e-co registration website is a dramatic improvement over with the old paper forms!