ION INDIE MAGAZINE October 2015, Volume 17 | Page 99

In other words, your song is copyrighted the moment you
write it down or record it. Once you’ve done that, the entire
Bundle of Rights for that work belongs to you--and your cowriter, if you have one.
So why should I send it to the Copyright Office?
Sending a work to the Copyright Office does not copyright
the work. The legal term is registering the work. It's what I
refer to as a “level of proof” that you own the work. Levels
of proof are important--here’s why.
In a way, a song is like an invention--something new and
different you are responsible for creating. But unlike a
physical invention, like a new type of mousetrap, you can’t
lock a song away for safekeeping. A song is closer to an
idea--it’s an expression of ideas or emotions through an
organized arrangement of notes, chords and (eventually)
recorded sound. You can’t lock that in a box!
In order to protect a creative work from infringement --that
means an illegal use without proper licensing--you must
build up a body of evidence that you, in fact, created the
work; levels of proof.
To put it another way: if you had to go to court on a criminal
charge, you would want your lawyer to present a mountain
of evidence that it couldn’t be you. Fingerprints, DNA,
eyewitness testimonies, phone records can all be evidence
to prove it wasn’t you.
In the case if there was a legal dispute about the ownership
of one of your songs, you would want to have a similar
mountain of evidence to show that you, in fact, created the
work. In this case, you might show a copy of a CD with your
song on it; maybe a sales receipt from the studio where you
recorded the song. And your registration with the Copyright
Office gives you another level of proof, in effect, a legal
document, showing ownership of the work, creation date,
etc.
These rights are important to understand, because when
you enter into a contract, you need to know which of these
rights you are licensing to someone else. If you sign a
publishing deal, for example, you may be signing away the
majority of these rights. That’s because the new publisher
finds value in your songs, and wants the ability to do
whatever it can to make money for itself--and you, of
course.

Why would I ever sign my rights away?
The problem is, you will probably need to sign some of
these rights away. Now, if you have a bank account with a
ridiculous number of zeros in it, you can afford to do highquality recordings, own and operate thousands of radio
stations to play your songs, place them in films and TV
shows you own and produce, etc. Even Bill Gates would
have a hard time pulling that kinda cash together!
If you're NOT a point-oh-one percenter, you probably do
not have the financial means to do everything yourself.
That's when it makes sense to consider enlisting help. And
that's accomplished by doing deals with others--record
labels, publishers, CD duplicators, radio and streaming
services, etc.
If you do decide to go it alone without a publisher, you've
got some work to do. You need to register work with the
proper organizations, and keep track of it all. We'll get
started on this in our next installment.

Paul Bordenkircher has spent the last three decades
building a wide base of knowledge in the fields of studio
production, live sound, publishing, marketing and
promotions. Mesa Sand Music, part of the
Mesa Sand Ventures, LLC family, offers independent
artists the kind of background and knowledge gained only
from hands-on experience in the challenging
entertainment industry. In addition to teaching at
University of Nevada Las Vegas, he's also the developer for
SongNook, an organizational tool for songwriters currently
on Indiegogo. His Music Biz Blog is at:
www.mesasand.com.