The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Caravan Ray wrote:

darricklucas wrote: When you upload onto a site like YouTube it comes with a time stamp which takes legal precedent of someone does steal your work.

I have always assumed that exactly the same thing happens when you email it to the Fightmaster and he/she uploads it to a site like Songfight!

Very true indeed. Along with that comes a string of witnesses and an even stronger case that the work is yours.


However you can't really sue anyone unless they make money off of it. So someone can go out there and steal your song and play it and call it theirs, unless they make cash the court doesn't give a damn, carry a bat and be prepared to offer street justice

darricklucas wrote:

Sick and Wrong wrote:I'm no expert, but here's my advice: proceed with caution.

Hey man I took your advice and decided to read up on copyright law concerning copyrighting songs.

It seems that any new piece of music written out on staff paper is automatically copyrighted, recordings work this way as well.

What someone can try to do is replicate your work, and then beat you too the punch and try to register it before you.

When you upload onto a site like YouTube it comes with a time stamp which takes legal precedent of someone does steal your work.

This is technically true, but be careful before taking legal advice from Darrick here. There's a lot of precedent in U.S. courts for "poor man's copyright" to not hold up against paid later registration at the Copyright Office. You might win with this in small claims court, but if Coldplay steals your melody, no amount of uploading to Youtube or Song Fight, or sealed envelopes mailed to yourself, will convince a judge that your work's innate copyright claim entitles you to a stake in the royalties of a work that someone actually paid to get "Officially" copyrighted. Starving artists have been practically laughed out of the court for claims like that.

Generic wrote:

darricklucas wrote:

Sick and Wrong wrote:I'm no expert, but here's my advice: proceed with caution.

Hey man I took your advice and decided to read up on copyright law concerning copyrighting songs.

It seems that any new piece of music written out on staff paper is automatically copyrighted, recordings work this way as well.

What someone can try to do is replicate your work, and then beat you too the punch and try to register it before you.

When you upload onto a site like YouTube it comes with a time stamp which takes legal precedent of someone does steal your work.

This is technically true, but be careful before taking legal advice from Darrick here. There's a lot of precedent in U.S. courts for "poor man's copyright" to not hold up against paid later registration at the Copyright Office. You might win with this in small claims court, but if Coldplay steals your melody, no amount of uploading to Youtube or Song Fight, or sealed envelopes mailed to yourself, will convince a judge that your work's innate copyright claim entitles you to a stake in the royalties of a work that someone actually paid to get "Officially" copyrighted. Starving artists have been practically laughed out of the court for claims like that.

The US courts favor the wealthy. If anyone wealthy wants to steal and profit they can just take and they will win in court every time.

What we have going for us in this day and age is transparency. Consumers are making decisions of how they spend their money based on a myriad of things and want a holistic view of who they buy from. They ain't just buying your tunes - they are buying into who you are as a person.

Coldplay would have more to lose in terms of reputation/saving face with their fans then what they might potentially gain from ripping off a few tunes from a small timer like me.

But I agree - definitely register ASAP to seal the deal. Costs $35/tune to do online and about 8months for it to get reviewed and mad official.

Paco Del Stinko wrote:

Generic wrote:Recent precedent suggests that you name the file pacodelstinko_suitcase.mp3.

Yeah, I'd been following that. I usually look at the specific, but it's not here for some...reason...

It's on the left sidebar on the songfight.org front page, right where you'd expect it to be if you're Spud.

fluffy wrote:

Paco Del Stinko wrote:

Generic wrote:Recent precedent suggests that you name the file pacodelstinko_suitcase.mp3.

Yeah, I'd been following that. I usually look at the specific, but it's not here for some...reason...

It's on the left sidebar on the songfight.org front page, right where you'd expect it to be if you're Spud.

Hey, that field auto-updates with the fight title or acronym now! How long has it been doing that?

Thanks, Fluffy! Now please don't tell Spud. Or...tell him it came in handy.

fluffy wrote:

Paco Del Stinko wrote:

Generic wrote:Recent precedent suggests that you name the file pacodelstinko_suitcase.mp3.

Yeah, I'd been following that. I usually look at the specific, but it's not here for some...reason...

It's on the left sidebar on the songfight.org front page, right where you'd expect it to be if you're Spud.

It's not the most obvious place you could choose to announce the required filename for the NEW TITLE, but being thankful for small mercies, I wasn't going to say anything.

i've procrastinated to the final 24 hours. still, planning on getting something done. maybe.

I wrote some lyrics, but haven't had a chance to do anything with them. I dropped them into the Lyric Marte in case anyone wants them and doesn't have any plans in the next 20 hours or so...

all goes well tonight, and there will be a new TGFTF submission

Waiting for friends set to end so can send print

Submitted.

just submitted one - wrote/recorded over the last 2 days (mostly today) - rock n .. roll.

Yep. Got my confirmation mail. Eight hours before I sent it in. And not one after.

darricklucas wrote:
The US courts favor the wealthy. If anyone wealthy wants to steal and profit they can just take and they will win in court every time.

What we have going for us in this day and age is transparency. Consumers are making decisions of how they spend their money based on a myriad of things and want a holistic view of who they buy from. They ain't just buying your tunes - they are buying into who you are as a person.

Coldplay would have more to lose in terms of reputation/saving face with their fans then what they might potentially gain from ripping off a few tunes from a small timer like me.

But I agree - definitely register ASAP to seal the deal. Costs $35/tune to do online and about 8months for it to get reviewed and mad official.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe this whole thing is what the legal profession likes to call a "hypothetical question." Nobody is going to steal your song unless it has a pretty fine hook, so think about that before you spend money on a copyright.

Also, you'd have to prove that the artist who allegedly stole your work was actually aware of it. Did you know that Gerry Rafferty stole the "Baker Street" hook from me? That's right! I'd used the same cool progression (Bb G... Bb G... Bb F... Bb C...) in a song of my own some years earlier, called "Good Day." Trouble is, I never finished the song or recorded it, or played the fragment for anybody but a couple of university roommates. So I can't sue the bastard.

Also, he added a sax part that really sold the progression.

Back again! I'm in. Together with my 14 year old son who did the backing track. So... WE are in. As Son and Father Productions Inc.

Just got in under the wire! See y'all in the ring.

-Kevin

AJOwens wrote: Nobody is going to steal your song unless it has a pretty fine hook, so think about that before you spend money on a copyright.

ALL MY SONGS ARE AWESOME FUCK YOU AJ

AJOwens wrote: Did you know that Gerry Rafferty stole the "Baker Street" hook from me?
[...]
Also, he added a sax part that really sold the progression.

Ay, there's the rub.

[EDIT: misquote fixed]

jb wrote:

AJOwens wrote: Nobody is going to steal your song unless it has a pretty fine hook, so think about that before you spend money on a copyright.

ALL MY SONGS ARE AWESOME FUCK YOU AJ

I thought someone might say that.

Generic wrote:

AJOwens wrote:

darricklucas wrote: Did you know that Gerry Rafferty stole the "Baker Street" hook from me?
[...]
Also, he added a sax part that really sold the progression.

Ay, there's the rub.

misquote.

AJOwens wrote:

darricklucas wrote:
The US courts favor the wealthy. If anyone wealthy wants to steal and profit they can just take and they will win in court every time.

What we have going for us in this day and age is transparency. Consumers are making decisions of how they spend their money based on a myriad of things and want a holistic view of who they buy from. They ain't just buying your tunes - they are buying into who you are as a person.

Coldplay would have more to lose in terms of reputation/saving face with their fans then what they might potentially gain from ripping off a few tunes from a small timer like me.

But I agree - definitely register ASAP to seal the deal. Costs $35/tune to do online and about 8months for it to get reviewed and mad official.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe this whole thing is what the legal profession likes to call a "hypothetical question." Nobody is going to steal your song unless it has a pretty fine hook, so think about that before you spend money on a copyright.

Also, you'd have to prove that the artist who allegedly stole your work was actually aware of it. Did you know that Gerry Rafferty stole the "Baker Street" hook from me? That's right! I'd used the same cool progression (Bb G... Bb G... Bb F... Bb C...) in a song of my own some years earlier, called "Good Day." Trouble is, I never finished the song or recorded it, or played the fragment for anybody but a couple of university roommates. So I can't sue the bastard.

Also, he added a sax part that really sold the progression.

why isn't your work worth $35 to you?

also going I-vi I-vi I-V I -V/V is a progression that is so common it is most certainly in public domain.


When we talk about standards such as 'Oleo' or 'Good Bait' do we ALWAYS give credit to Gershwin for preceding it with 'I got rhythm'? - only when we are talking about rhythm changes as its own subject