Importnt Copyright question

[J-malice]

Aight heres the situation. i jus finished recording a compilation and i have various artists on it. i produced every track on the compilation but im not rappin on every track. Now i need to copyright the tracks so ppl cant take the tracks and do whateva. so is it legal for me to copyright the tracks under my record labels name???? (its not registered but answer pretnding that my label is registered)

in the music industry who does the actual songs belong to the label or the artists???? and i know this subject probably brings up some otha thoughts that might be helpful so feel free to elaborate.

i just need to know if i can copyright the songs under my labels name. and if so how would like the "rights" be divided up among the artists???

 

[bigdmakintrax]

I have been in the exact situation....because I had some wayward self thinking artists at one point....so I just copywrote the songs and made a note on the form that only and exclusively did I own rights to the instrumental only........now if they wrote to the beat then they can copyright their lyrics on a separate form....but remember you need to make sure you have masters...preferably the tracked beats.....for safe keeping...as a producer always keep ownership of your masters and try to avoid giving an artist the instrumental without them signing a release or normal contract.....if you own the label you can definitely copyright the material but in actuality you aren't suppose to copyright something someone wrote to unless you find a way to give give them credits.....one thing also to back up what was done is to always have a session sheet in your studio.....this should have all that were present at the studio and who 1. was a writer and performer 2. was a producer 3. was the engineer at least.....and whatever other information you want on their with the date and time....you have all parties sign it and if you want give everyone a copy.....(make note I found out a few years back that this a very common way that producers might get jacked by a known artist...they make you think your shidd is hot, get you to their studio and maybe the give you some lo budget amount of money...record to the track and thats it......then since they paid you they don't really have to give you any royalties if the track blew)....this also should serve as record for publishing purposes when or if the song gets registered at somewhere like BMI or ASCAP....because this is where royalties are divided up.....and sometimes this is where people are jacked if whoever registers the song just leaves someone out and there is no record so parties find themselves in court trying to sort it out.....anyhow so much for the laymens GOD explanation...but good luck and I guess I need that disclaimer...I am not a lawyer ...blah, blah, blah.....etc...etc ....

 

[StressWon]

I agree with D. Yo J, if ya wanna copyright ya rhymes, thats a whole different process. Ya have to put them to paper and send them in for exclusive rights to yaself. Were as tracks go, ya can just put instrumentals on ya CD and send that in and now ya got both. And put that in the credits man. Ya wanna make sure ya rhymes are protected,,,too many ghostwriters in the industry right now, and it would suck ass if someone stole ya stuff to make a smash hit!