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Good evening guys :yup:

I have been wondering about copyright over the last couple of weeks...

Our band is performing more regularly now, and not having the original material copyrighted
is worrying me.

I know how PCM works and all the details regarding it, but how legal is it in S.A? I read somewhere
that in the U.S. it's not legal?

I want to do the whole SAMRO thing, get registered and get it professionally done, but a friend of my
attempted it and waited 3 months without a reply from them? If anyone knows, are there specific forms
we need to submit to? Do we have to include a recorded copy? Or do you have to write it as sheet music?

Sorry if it sounds like alot of questions, but I would really like to hear it from someone who has experience
with this aspect of the music industry.

Thanx in advance for any replies! ?
    Hey man, Yeah SAMRO takes a while to get back to ya once, this is the poor man's copyright, record your your music to disc, get yourself a really good envelope and post the your disc to yourself, it will get a post stamp date and will serve as evidence if ever a case should ever arrive, just as long as the letter is never opened or tampered with you will have proof and date of track recording. Got that tip from a friend who is in the music business. Music laws work on date ot was recorded, so if someone copies your music and you cannot prove that you recorded it before then you will have no case.

    happened to a a friend of mine who wrote a song for an ad, some lady called him and said he stole her song, so he asked her to please mail the proof that she wrote the song before it was recorded by him so that they could rectify this situation, they lived in totally different provinces from each other, anyway, she replied that she had not recorded anything but she wrote that song and had that idea in her head and that he must pay her or she'll take the matter further...:roflmao:.... needless to say, it never went any further........
      Also, according to the SAMRO website your music had to have been broadcasted for two years. I've written 4 songs but never publicly performed or broadcasted any of them. Thus, because I am not a recognised (published) singer/performer, my songs don't deserve copyright?

      @Needleshy. Uploading a copy of the song to Soundcloud or Box.net. Also shows when file was uploaded. Can this not also prove albeit roughly date of the recording?
        Yeh we submitted to SAMRO in May, we are still waiting for a reply.
        The amount of forms we had to complete then go wait in queue, its a nightmare.
        Then there is also registering with RISA as well :'(

        I have heard about the mailing of the songs to yourself is legit. I am not sure about uploading to social media though.
          The copyright of your music automatically falls to you. You don't need to 'register' anything you make in order to 'get' the copyright. The mailing-it-to-yourself is just a way to prove that you created something by a certain date. It will be far easier to just upload it to an online service. That way you have backups too. External drives fail and CDs get lost (and only last a few years).
            You don't need to mail yourself, as long as you can prove (in whatever way) that you made the song. This could include the music notation, a band garage mp3 or whatever
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